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THE 



CELTIC MAGAZINE: 

\l\ 

Jt Jftonthlp JJtriobical 



DEVOTED TO THE 



LITERATURE, HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES, 
FOLK LORE, TRADITIONS, 



SOCIAL AND MATERIAL INTERESTS OF THE CELT 
AT HOME AND ABROAD. 



CONDUCTED BY 

ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A, SCOT,, 

Author of " The History and Genealogies of the Clan Mackenzie'" ; " The History of 

the Macdonalds and Lords of the Isles" ; " 7 he History of the Camerons" ; " The 

History of the Mathesons" ; " The Prophecies of the Brahan Seer" ; " The 

Historical Tales and Legends of the Highlands" ; " 7 he History of the 

Highland Clearances" ; " The Social State of the Isle of Skyt in 

1882-83"; & c -> & c - 



VOL. IX. 

INVERNESS : A. & W. MACKENZIE, 25 HIGH STREET. 

1884. 
All Rights Reserved. 






INVERNESS : PRINTED AT THE COURIER OFFICE. 



DA 

-fSO 
C3 



LIBRARY 

728816 

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO 



CONTENTS. 



PAC3K 

Tho History of the Camerons.-By the Editor. 1, 49, 97, 145, 193, 245, 293, 

341, 393, 463, 493, and 554 
Legend of Girnigoe. By H.R.M. ... ... ... ... ... 13 

e Lower Fishings of the Ness, II. By C. Fraser-Mackintosh, F.S.A. Scot., M.P. 18 
Departure of an Emigrant Ship ... ... ... ... ... ... 23 

The Ethics of Political Economy. By Malcolm Mackenzie ... 24, 72, and 132 

The Name Riach or Reoch. By Thomas Stratton, M.D. ... ... ... 27 

A"Run Through Canada and the States. By Kenneth Macdonald, F.S.A. Scot. 

28, 85, 180, and 217 
The Literature of the Crofter Question ... ... ... ... ... 35 

Celtic Mythology. By Alexander Macbain, M.A. 36, 65, 124, 167, 210, 275, 

323, 427, and 460 
The Crofter Royal Commission ... ... ... ... ... ... 44 

" Peermen " and their Relations. By Mary Maekeilar ... ... ... 45 

A Tale of the Strathnaver Clearances. By Annie Mackay ... ... 57 

Sutherland Evictions and Burnings Testimony of Living Eye-witnesses 60, 112, and 173 
Inverness Scientific Society and Field Club ... ... ... ... 80 

A Tradition of Lochaher. By Mary Mackellar ... ... ... ... 81 

Proposed Testimonial to Professor Blaakie ... ... ... ...90and482 

Celtic and Literary Notes ... ... ... ... 94, 138, 178, 290, and 392 

The Highland Bagpipe By H.R.M. ... ... ... ... ... 109 

Ancient Celtic Tenures. By H. C. Macandrew, Provost of Inverness 116 and 157 

The Glasgow Lochaber Highlanders ... ... ... ... ... 131 

Woods, Forests, and Estates of Perthshire, by Thomas Hunter A Review ... 140 

The Highland Land Law Reform Association of London ... ... ... 175 

Highlaniiers of New Zealand and tbeir Distressed Countrymen at Home ... 177 

Lays of Hame and Country, by Alexander Logan A Review ... ... 179 

The Highlands and Highlanders of Scotland, by James Cromb A Review ... 187 

Lays of Leisure, by William Allan A Review ... ... ... ... 189 

Golden Wedding of Cluny Macpherson, C.B. .. ... ... ... 190 

Proposed Scottish Highlander ... ... ..' ... ... 192, 226, an. 1 292 

The Feather Bunnet and the Highland Regiments ... ... ... 206 

Fairies in Sutherland. By Alexander Mackay ... ... ... ... 207 

An Awkward March. By H.R.M. ... ... ... ... ... 227 

The Gaelic Society of Inverness 12th Annual Dinner Full Report ... 231 

Do. do. 13th Annual Assembly Full Report ... 474 

The Origin of Three Gaelic Proverbs. By H.R.M ... ... ... 255 

The Disarming Act and the Proscription of .the Highland Dress. By J. G. 

Mackay ... ... ... ... ... ... 257 and 310 

Charles Fraser-Mackintosh, M.P., F.S.A. Scot. A Biographical Sketch. By 

A.M. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 265 

Do. do. A Portrait ... ... 358 

Henry George at Inverness ... ... ... ... ... ... 283 

The English Poetical Works of Evan MacColl A Review ... ... ... 286 

The History of Civilization in Scotland, by John Mackintosh A Review ... 288 

Donald Og MacAulay. By Maclain ... ... ... ... ... 315 

More About Sellar and the Sutherland Clearances ... ... ... 319 

Macdonald of Scotus and his Son in 1745 ... ... ... ... 322 

Old Highland Remedies. By H.R.M. ... ... ... ... 330 and 354 

The Chief of Grant and the Seafield Estates ... ... ... ... 334 

Dugald Buchanan's Spiritual Songs, translated into English verse, by L. Mac- 
Bean A Review ... ... ... ... ... ... 336 

Crofter Eloquence in the Isle of Skye ... .. ... ... ... 337 

Joseph Anderson, LL.D., on Early Celtic Art " ... ... ... 357 

Report of the Royal Commission (Highlands and Islands) An Analysis. By 

A.M. 35'9, 406, 445, and 504 

Dissents from do., by Sir Kenneth Mackenzie and Loohiel ... ... 383 

Dr Mackenzie Chisholm ... ... ... ... 391 



iv. Contents. 

PAOK 

Royal Recognition of a Gaelic Bard ... ... ... ... ... 392 

" Nether- Lochaber" ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 392 

The Queen's New Book in Gaelic ... ... ... 434 

Gae'ic in Schools ... ... .. ... : ... ... 435 

Royal Reasons for adopting the Catholic Religion ... ... ... ... 439 

The Greenock Telegraph, on Mackenzie's Analysis of Report of Croftor RoyM 

Commission ... ... ... " ... ... ... "... 444 

Historic Scenes in Glendochart. By Coir-an-t-Sith ... ... ... 483 

A Legend of Ardnamurchan. By H.R. M. ... ... ... ... 488 

Henry George on the History of the Highland Clearances ... ... ... 489 

Boyd's Vi-iti>rs' Guide to Obnn, by " Stravaiger. 'A Review ... 490 

Anecdotes of the Highland Regiments. By William Mackenzie ... ... 491 

Poem*, by John Campbell A Review ... ... ... ... 492 

The Translator of the New Testament into Gaelic ... ... 513 

The Gaelic Origin of Local Names. By A. M. ... ... ... ... 517 

" Taillear Dunh na Tuaighe " A Cameron Wanior. By t!i Rev. Professor 

Male ;lm Campbell Taylor, I). D. ... ... ... ... 525 and ")''>."> 

" Colonel Ann " Mackintosh and Cumberland ... .. .. ... 530 

An Incursion of the Frasers to Athole. By H R.M. ... ... ... 531 

The Scottish Review on the Report of the Crofters' Commission 

The Toronto Calodonian Society ... .. ... ... ... 535 

Suaicheantas nan Gael, or the Badges of the Highland Clans in Gaelic and 

English ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5o6 

Land Law Reform Demonstration in Dingwall ... ... ... 537 and 572 

Miscellaneous Notes ... ... ... ... ... ... 53S> 

John Mackintosh, author of "The History of Civilisation in Scmlari'l." A 

Biographical Sketch ... ... ... ... ... ... 541 

The Seaforth Highlanders. First Offence in the Ranks ... ... ... 547 

Bruce and the Brooch of Lorn. By the Rev. Allan Sinclair, M.A. ... ... 548 

The Legend of Cumyn's Cairn. By H.R. M. ... ... ... ... 5b2 

To the Reader ... ..." ... ... ... ... ... 571 

The Killin Collection of Gaelic Songs and Music ... ... ... ... 57b' 

Administration of Justice in the Isle of Skye ... ... ... ... 580 

Glencairn's Duel. By M. A. Rose ... ... ... ... ... 584 

CORRESPOND ENCE. 

The " Clachnahagaig " Stone. By Angus Mackintosh ... ... 83 and 144 

Feudal Relation* "f Landlord and Tenant. By John D. Macpherson ... 84 

The Rev. Donald Mnnro, M.A., High Dean of the Isles. By Alexander Ro*s 142 

Historical Chairs. By C. B. Strutt ... ... ... ... ... 282 

Peermen ami their Relations. By James Linn ... ... ... ... 285 

Murder of Colin Campbell of Glenure. By Nether-Lochaber ... ... 352 

The Last of the MacMartin Camerons. By Colin Chi>holm ... ... 442 

The Dance of "Seann Triubhain." By Kenneth Matheson, jun. ... ... 443 

The Camerons of Letterfiulay. By Catherine Cameron ... ... ... 516 

POETRY. 

A Canadian Farewell to Lord Lome. By William Murray ... ... 17 

Orati Ceilidh, le Mairi Nic Edair ... ... ... ... ... 48 

Marbh-rann do ('halum Kualh MacCoinnich ; le Ruairidh, a Bhratbair ... 92 

The Highland Widow. By Kenneth MacLachlan ... ... ... 165 

The Last Sabbath in Strathnaver before the Burnings. Bv Annie Mackay ... 228 

To the Gael. --By William Allan ... ... "... ... ... 264 

Tuireadh air son Prionnsa Donnachadh Diuc Albani, le Mairi Nic-Ealair ... 335 

The River Beauly. By Evan MacColl ... ... ... ... ... 390 

Belle Borne Brook. By Dr J. Murdoch Harper ... ... ... ... 426 

Oran do'n Ridire Coinneach MacCoinnich, Triath Ghearrloch, le Mairi Nic- 
Ealair ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 480 

Cumha do Dh-Fhar Lonndabhra, le Ailean Dall ... ... ... 514 

The Sailor'a Return. -By Kenneth MacLachlan ... ... ... ... 523 



THE 

CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



CONDUCTED BY 



ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A., Scot. 
No. XCVII. NOVEMBER 1883. VOL. IX. 

THE HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 
By the EDITOR. 



X. 

SIR EWEN CAMERON Continued. REMARKABLE INCIDENTS 
IN HIS EARLY CAREER. 

LOCHIEL, having returned to Lochaber, found Macdonald of 
Glengarry and Keppoch willing to join him in the common 
defence of their properties ; and for this purpose they met at 
Glenturrit, when they agreed to raise their men and meet upon 
a moor above Aberchalder, a few miles from Fort-Augustus, 
whenever they heard of the enemy's advance. Lochiel, in the 
meantime, allowed most of his men to separate and go home, 
but hearing of the approach of the English sooner than he 
expected, he determined to march for the place of rendezvous 
with about four hundred of his followers whom he had still about 
him, thinking that, by the assistance of Glengarry and Keppoch, 
he might be able to engage the enemy successfully. On his 
arrival he was disappointed to find only Keppoch there in terms 
of the agreement previously come to, and that Glengarry was 
" walking and discoursing with the English Commander in the 
very centre of his troops," encamped on the plain below, and 
numbering 1500 men and several troops of horse. Lochiel 



2 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

became exasperated, and expressed his suspicions even of Kep- 
poch's fidelity, with the result that the latter resented the charge 
by leaving the field and marching his men home. 

The English soon after raised their camp and marched for a 
wood at the end of the Pass of Clunes, where they halted, and 
their Commander, Colonel Brayn, sent a messenger to Lochiel 
requesting permission to walk peaceably through his country, 
assuring him that he had no design of injuring either himself or 
his people, if he was not provoked by their conduct to attack 
them. Lochiel was personally in favour of attacking the English 
in the Pass, where he would have great advantages over them 
and could keep them until more of his men should arrive from 
their homes. His leading men strongly advised him against this 
course, and they were supported in their views by General 
Drummond, who accompanied Lochiel, with the view, it is 
said, to command the confederated clans when they met, to 
prevent disputes among themselves; and Lochiel, unwillingly, 
gave way to the counsel of his friends. He, however, closely 
watched the movements of the enemy, who, after encamping for 
a night at Inverlochy, began a return march to Inverness, neither 
inflicting nor receiving any injury in the district of Lochaber 
during their long march there and back. 

In consequence of Glengarry's defection on this occasion, 
Lochiel and he were never afterwards completely reconciled. 
When the estates of Glengarry were subsequently forfeited, Argyll 
got a gift of it, and gave it afterwards to Lochiel, who, notwith- 
standing the old difference, granted it in turn entire to its original 
owner.* After this Lochiel joined Glencairn's army, and took 
part in several lively skirmishes between him and the English 
soldiery in which the young chief and his followers displayed 
their usual gallantry, but nothing specially remarkable is recorded 
of them at this period. 

In 1654 General Middleton arrived from Holland, and 
succeeded Glencairn in the command of the King's troops, where- 
upon he at once wrote to Lochiel as follows : 

" HONOURED SIR, The King is very sensible of your affection to him, and I am 
confident how soone he is in a capacity, will liberally reward your services. I doe 

* The author of Locliiers Memoirs says, "Argyll's disposition of it to Lochiel is 
still extant, and is to be seen in the hands of M'Kenzie of Rose-End." 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 3 

not at all doubt of your constant resolution to prosecute that service vigorously with 
all your power for the King's interest and your country's honour, and I doe assure you 
that no man shall be more ready to assist you in anything than, &c. 

(Signed) "JOHN MIDDLETONE. 
" TOUNG, March 1654." 

" P~S. I expect that you, with your friends, will not faill to come considerably, 
to join me, as soon as you are advertized by the Earl of Glencairn of his march 
towards me." 

Lochiel soon after joined Middleton "with a full regiment 
of good men," whom he almost immediately led into action, 
maintaining their previous renown for intrepidity and courage 
against the enemy. 

By General Monk's tactics, who arrived in the North in 
April 1654, Middleton's forces were reduced to very severe 
straits, being hemmed in on all sifles, without provisions, and 
having no garrison or safe place of retreat. They were thus 
constantly obliged to fight and defend themselves in the open 
country, occasioning many severe conflicts between them and the 
English. On these occasions young Lochiel was always to the 
front, and often signally distinguished^ himself. " His men seemed 
to be spirited by his example, and in the end became so hardy 
and resolute that they despised all danger while he was at their 
head. There was little blood drawn during that campaign where 
he was not present, for he chose to be in that part of the army 
that opposed General Morgan, who, being an active and brave 
officer, seldom allowed rest to his enemies." Lochiel was thus 
gaining in reputation every day, becoming almost adored by his 
trusting followers. 

Monk used every means in his power terrorism or concili- 
ation, as best suited the circumstances to divide and break up 
the Highland army, and, having succeeded with many of the other 
chiefs, he was naturally anxious to secure Lochiel, the most dis- 
tinguished for bravery and courage of them all. He spared no 
temptation to bribe him into submission, and made him so many 
insinuating offers and proposals "that several of his best friends 
were surprised that he so much as hesitated to accept them. 
Among others he offered to buy the estate of Glenlui and Loch- 
arkaig for him ; to pay all his debts ; and to give him whatever 
post in the army he pleased." All this, however, proved ineffec- 
tual, and Monk determined to plant a strong garrison at Inver- 



4 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

lochy, in the very heart of the Cameron country, so that Lochiel's 
estate would thus be entirely at his mercy, or he would force 
the Chief and his men home to defend it. He succeeded in the 
latter, for Lochiel, hearing of Monk's intention, marched straight 
into Lochaber, where he raised additional men, determined to fight 
the enemy on their way from Inverness, whence, he was informed, 
they were coming across the country. Meanwhile, however, on 
the advice of Argyll, who supplied men to pilot them, the English 
came round by sea, in five ships, and landed safely at Inverlochy, 
in their own boats, with a year's provision and ample materials 
to construct a fort. Colonel Brayn, who had led the English 
through the same country the previous year, was appointed Gover- 
nor of the garrison, which consisted of 2000 effective troops, 
commanded by the most skilful and resolute officers in Monk's 
army, and attended by a large following of workmen, servants, 
their wives and children. 

The extensive woods which then abounded in the district 
furnished the Governor with such plentiful material that, in less 
than twenty-four hours after landing, he had his troops fully 
secured against all danger from attack. Lochiel arrived in the 
neighbourhood next morning, and, having personally reconnoitred 
the situation from a neighbouring eminence, he satisfied himself 
of the impossibility of successful attack, and resolved to retire 
westward to the woods of Achadalew, three miles from the garri- 
son, on the northern shore of Lochiel. Having taken counsel 
with his friends here, he resolved upon dismissing his men for a 
few days to enable them to remove their cattle further away from 
the enemy, and to obtain provisions for themselves, which, in con- 
sequence of their long absence, became quite exhausted. He 
only kept thirty-two young gentlemen and his own servants about 
him as a body-guard, numbering in all thirty-five, or, as another 
authority says, thirty-eight persons. He could not have fixed 
on a more suitable place to await the return of his followers, not 
only having, where he halted, a means of safe retreat into the 
wood, in case of a sudden surprise, but having the English garri- 
son so well in view that the smallest party could not be sent out 
of it without his having timely notice of its proceedings. At the 
same time, he managed to get spies admitted into the garrison 
who kept him fully informed of everything that took place, 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 5 

though by their cunning familiarity with the soldiers, and frank 
offers of their services in any capacity in which they could be of 
use, they were never in the least suspected. 

Through these emissaries he received private notice that the 
Governor, encouraged by Lochiel's dismissal of his men, was that 
very day, the fifth after his arrival, to send out a detachment of 
300 men, attended by several workmen, to bring in some fresh 
provisions, as well as to fell a quantity of old oak trees, which, he 
was informed, were to be found in great numbers on both sides 
of Lochiel. Though the Chief was displeased at himself for 
dismissing so many of his men, yet, pushed on by curiosity, he 
ascended an eminence, from whence he had a full view of all the 
enemy's proceedings, and soon after he discovered two ships, full of 
soldiers, sailing towards the wood, where he and his men were 
concealed. These vessels, as he afterwards found, each contained 
an equal number of troops. One of them anchored on his, and 
the other on the opposite, shore of the Loch. Resolving to have 
a nearer view, he, under cover of the wood, managed to post him- 
self so near the spot where they landed, that he was able 
to count them as they drew up, their number being about 140 
men, besides officers and workmen with axes and other instru- 
ments. Having thus fully satisfied himself, he returned to his 
friends, and asked their opinion as to what was best to be done, 
" now that such a party of the enemy had offered their throats to 
be cut," as he expressed himself. The majority of his party were 
young men, fiery, hot-headed, full of vigour and courage, and 
fond of every opportunity of pleasing their brave Chief, whom 
they almost adored. These youthful spirits, discovering his in- 
clinations, were for attacking the English at once at all hazards ; 
but the few older and more experienced attempted to dissuade 
him from this by all the arguments they could suggest. They said 
that the great inequality of their number rendered the attempt 
mad and ridiculous ; that, supposing the enemy to be cowards, 
yet they were strangers, and the very despair of the impossibility 
of escaping in a strange country by flight would oblige them to 
fight desperately for their lives ; and, being more than four to 
one, it would be surprising if they did not surround their assail- 
ants and cut them to pieces ; but in this particular case the com- 
bat would be still more hazardous and desperate, for the enemy 



6 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

were all choice old troops, hardened and inspirited by long prac- 
tice and success in war, and commanded by experienced officers, 
who knew well how to employ these advantages ; that it would 
be a sufficient proof of their own courage to fight such an enemy 
upon equal terms ; upon the whole, that their best advice was 
immediately to dispatch such persons as their Chief should fix 
upon to call in the assistance of more men, and on the arrival of 
these to fight when they had a reasonable chance of success on 
something like equal terms. 

A few were present who had served under Montrose, and 
Lochiel asked their opinion separately, but they declared that 
they never knew even Montrose to engage under so great a dis- 
advantage as to numbers ; besides, they looked upon this enemy 
as far superior to any that Montrose ever had occasion to fight ; 
for, though he seldom fought but where there were some 
regiments of old soldiers against him, yet the greater portion 
were generally such as enlisted not out of zeal for the Covenant, 
but were otherwise forced, and, therefore, not to be compared 
with veteran troops. 

But, notwithstanding all this, Lochiel was so determined 
that he would not be dissuaded from the hazardous attempt. 
" Whether impelled by an excess of courage, or by a youthful 
spirit of emulation (for he had Montrose always in his mouth), 
it is certain that he never appeared absolutely inexorable but on 
this occasion." He upbraided his friends as enemies to his and 
their own glory, in magnifying danger, where, he said, there was 
so little reason ; and alleged that he had allowed the same 
enemy to escape on a previous occasion, at the Pass of Clunes, 
by their advice, when he had an opportunity of cutting them to 
pieces ; and that, had they been then treated as they ought to 
have been, and as they deserved, they would neither have had 
the boldness to fix themselves in the heart of his country nor 
the insolence to cut down his woods without his leave ; but they 
should not again have one tree of .his without paying for it with 
t! eir blood ; that if they were not chastised, the Camerons, who 
were now the only free people within the three Kingdoms, would 
soon find themselves in a miserable state of servitude, at the 
n.ercy of bloody enthusiasts, who had enslaved their country and 
iirbrued their impious hands in the blood of their Sovereign, and 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 7 

still thirsted for that of his few remaining subjects ; that, however 
they magnified the enemy's courage, yet it might be remembered 
by several of those present, that they had oftener than once tried 
their own with success in conflicts more hazardous ; and, par- 
ticularly, at Braemar, where he himself defended a pass with a 
handful against an army of English. He further pleaded, 
that the enemy, being in absolute security, would be so con- 
founded and stupified by a bold, sudden, and unexpected attack, 
that they would imagine every tree in the wood a High- 
lander holding a broad-sword in his hand, and cutting their 
throats ; that the enemy had no other arms but their heavy 
muskets, which would be useless after their first fire ; and that 
it would be the Camerons' own faults if they allowed the English 
time to fire a second time ; that supposing he and his party 
should be obliged to retreat, which was really the worst that 
could happen to them, it was easy for them to retire further into 
the wood, through which the enemy dare not follow them for fear 
of ambush ; and even though they should, yet the Highlanders, 
who were much nimbler, had the neighbouring mountains for 
security ; that, as to the proposal of sending for more men, they 
knew that to be impracticable, for those living in the neighbour- 
hood were now in the remote mountains with their cattle, and 
the rest lived at too great a distance to afford assistance on such 
short notice ; but that he truly believed there was no need of 
their aid, for if every one there would undertake to kill his man, 
which he expected each would do with his shot, he would person- 
ally answer for the rest ! 

Lochiel delivered himself of this oration in such a manner 
that none of his party made any further opposition to his wish. 
They all declared that they were ready to march whenever he 
should command them, though it were to certain destruction, 
on condition that he and his younger brother Allan, who was 
yet but a stripling, would agree to absent themselves from 
danger, as all the hopes of the Clan depended on their safety ; 
so they entreated him to be prevailed upon in what they urged 
was so reasonable a request. Lochiel could not patiently listen to 
the proposal regarding himself, but commanded that his brother, 
who would not otherwise keep out of the fray, should be bound 
to a tree ; and, that since he could not spare any of his men, a 



8 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

little boy, who came accidentally among them, should be left to 
attend him. These orders were executed ; but the brave youth 
soon forced the boy to unloose him, and subsequently had the 
good fortune to save his brother's life. 

In the meantime Lochiel's scouts brought him word that the 
enemy, having continued for a short time where they landed, 
marched slowly along the shore about half-a-mile in a westward 
direction, and were now at the village of Achadelew, where they 
were pillaging the houses and capturing the poultry. Lochiel, 
judging this, while they were in disorder, the proper moment for 
attacking them, drew up his men in a long line, one deep, and 
desired them to march slowly, sc as not to disorder themselves, 
while entangled among the trees, till they came in view of the 
enemy, and not to fire a shot until they touched the breasts of 
the enemy with the muzzles of their pieces. About half his men 
had bows, and were excellent archers. To these he gave similar 
orders, and mixed them with his musketeers. But his men were 
too young and too forward to observe the first part of these 
orders with the necessary exactness. They marched so quick, 
or rather ran at such a pace, that Lochiel, who, by some accident 
or other, was obliged to stay a little behind, ran a great risk, 
before he could overtake them, of being shot from a bush, where 
one of the enemy lurked ; but his brother Allan luckily came up 
at the very moment and shot the fellow dead while he had his 
gun to his eye, levelled directly at Lochiel, who had never ob- 
served him. 

The English, who, it seems, had been warned in time by 
some of their own stragglers, were in good order when the Came- 
rons came in view, and they received them somewhat rashly with 
a general discharge of their muskets, but at such a distance that 
they did no harm, and the Highlanders were up with them before 
they could load a second time, pouring their shot into their very 
bosoms, and killing more than thirty of them on the spot. They 
then fell on them plying their broadswords with incredible fury. 
The enemy sustained the shock with great bravery, though with 
little success. 

This manner of fighting was new to them. At first they 
acted entirely on the defensive, and, by holding their muskets 
before their foreheads, endeavoured to defend themselves from 
the terrible blows of the broadsword. But the Highlanders strik- 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 9 

ing them below, they were soon obliged to change that method. 
Some of them used their swords, and struck at their enemies with 
strength and fury, but their blows were mostly ineffectual. The 
Highlanders received them on their shields, and the mettle and 
temper of the enemy's blades were so bad that they bent in their 
hands and became useless, thus exposing them to certain death. 
Others of them thrust their bayonets into the muzzles of their 
pieces, as the custom then was, but they were no less unsuccessful, 
for the more violently they pushed the more firmly their weapons 
entered and stuck in the Highlanders' leathern targets, and left 
their users naked and defenceless. Those that clubbed their 
muskets did more mischief, but fared little better in the end, for, 
though they made some sure blows, yet the firelocks were at that 
time so clumsy and heavy that they seldom could recover them 
for a second stroke ; besides, the Highlanders, covering them- 
selves with their targets, generally broke the force of the blow. 
But the superiority of their numbers gave the enemy such an ad- 
vantage as to keep the conflict for a long time in suspense. 
Though their ranks were often pierced, disordered, and broken, 
yet they as often rallied and returned to the charge, which ex- 
ceedingly surprised the Highlanders, who were not accustomed 
to such long and doubtful actions, and it is more than likely that, 
had the English weapons been equal to the courage of those who 
wielded them, the Highlanders would have paid dear for their 
rashness. 

But the numbers of the enemy at last decreasing by the 
slaughter of their best men, they began gradually to give ground, 
but not to run, for, with their faces to the Camerons, they still 
kept retreating in a body, though in disorder, and fighting with 
invincible obstinacy and resolution. But Lochiel, to prevent 
their escape to their vessel, fell upon the following strategem : 
He commanded two or three of his men to run in advance of the 
retreating enemy, and from a bush to call out so as to make 
them imagine that another body of Highlanders was intercepting 
their retreat. This took so effectually that they stopped, and 
animated by rage, madness, and despair, they renewed the 
fight with greater fury than before. They were still superior 
in numbers to the Camerons by more than half, and wanted 
nothing but good weapons to make Lochiel repent that he had 
intercepted their escape. They had no longer any regard for 



io THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

their own safety, and with their clubbed muskets delivered such 
strokes as would have brought their enemies to the ground, if 
they had been aimed with as much discretion as they were 
forcibly applied. But this served only to hasten their destruction, 
for, exerting all their strength in giving these ineffectual blows, 
the sway of their heavy muskets, which generally struck the 
ground, rendered them unable to recover themselves. The High- 
landers made use of the advantage and stabbed them with their 
dirks or poniards while they were thus bent and defenceless, 
whereby they quickly diminished their numbers, and forced them 
again to flee as best they could. 

Being thus broken and dispersed, " they fled as fear or chance 
directed them. The Highlanders pursued with as little judg- 
ment. In one place you might have seen five Highlanders 
engaged with double that number of Englishmen ; and in another, 
two or three Englishmen defending themselves against twice as 
many of their enemies." But the greater number made to the 
shore, where we shall leave them for a moment and follow the 
young Chief, who in the meantime had a most curious adventure. 

He followed a few that fled into the wood, where he killed 
two or three with his own hand, no one having pursued in that 
direction but himself. The officer who commanded the invaders 
also fled in the same direction ; but, concealing himself in a 
bush, Lochicl did not notice him, and, observing that he was 
alone, started suddenly out of his lurking-place, attacked Lochiel 
on his return, and threatening, as he rushed furiously upon him, 
sword in hand, to revenge the slaughter of his countrymen by 
the Chiefs death. Lochiel, who also had his sword in his hand, 
received him with equal resolution. " The combat was long and 
doubtful ; both fought for their lives, and as they were both ani- 
mated by the same fury and courage, so they seemed to manage 
their swords with the same dexterity. The English gentleman 
had by far the advantage in strength and size ; but Lochiel, ex- 
ceeding him in nimbleness and agility, in the end tripped the 
sword out of his hand. But he was not allowed to make use of 
this advantage, for his antagonist, flying upon him with incredible 
quickness, they closed and wrestled till both fell to the ground in 
each other's arms. In this posture they struggled and tumbled 
up and down till they fixed in the channel of a brook, between 
two straight steep banks, which then, by the drought of summer, 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 11 

happened to be dry. Here Lochiel was in a most desperate situ- 
ation, for, being undermost, he was not only crushed under the 
weight of his antagonist (who was a very big man), but also 
badly hurt and bruised by the sharp stones in the bed of the 
rivulet. Their strength was so far spent that neither of them 
could stir a limb ;" but the Englishman, being uppermost, at last 
recovered the use of his right hand, seized a dagger that hung at 
his belt, and made several attempts to stab his adversary, who 
all the time held him fast ; but the narrowness of the place where 
they were, and the posture they were in, rendered the execution 
very difficult and almost impracticable while he was so closely 
embraced. He, however, made a most violent effort to disengage 
himself, and in that act he raised his head and stretched his neck, 
when Lochiel, who by this time had his hands at liberty with 
his left suddenly seized his opponent by the right, and with the 
other by the collar, and, jumping at his extended throat, which 
he used to say God put in his mouth, he bit it quite through, and 
kept such hold of it that he brought away his mouthful ! " This," 
he said, " was the sweetest bite he ever had in his life !" The 
reader may imagine in what a state he would be after receiving 
such a gush of warm blood in the face as naturally flowed from 
such a wound. However, he soon had an opportunity of wash- 
ing himself, for, hastening to the shore, he found his men chin- 
deep in the sea, endeavouring to destroy the remainder of the 
enemy, who still attempted to recover their vessel, at anchor near 
the shore ; and, wishing to save the few remaining of the foe 
after such a victory, he, with great difficulty, staid the fury of his 
men, and offered quarters, when all, being about thirty-five 
in number, submitted. The first that delivered his arms 
was an Irishman, who, having briskly offered his hand to 
Lochiel, bade him adieu, and ran away with such speed that, 
though he was hotly pursued, he managed to effect his escape 
to Inverlochy, three long miles from the village where they first 
engaged, while he had also the river Lochy to cross before 
he was in complete safety. It is said of this fellow that, when 
saying his prayers, " which every soldier in those religious times 
was obliged to do," remembering the danger from which he 
had escaped, always put up the petition " That God, in his 
mercy, would be pleased to keep him out of the hands of Lochiel 
and his bloody crew !" 



12 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Before the others gave up their arms one of them attempted 
to shoot Lochiel, who, having by good fortune, observed him 
while he had his gun to his eye, plunged himself into the sea at 
the moment when the ungrateful rascal drew the trigger. This 
the Chief the more easily effected, as he was already chin- 
deep in the water ; but even then his escape was so narrow that 
a part of the hair from the back of his head was shot away, and 
the skin a little ruffled by the ball. 

After this the Camerons showed no further mercy. They 
flew upon the enemy like tigers, cutting them to pieces wherever 
they came at them. In vain did Lochiel interpose his authority ; 
they were deaf to everything but the dictates of fury and revenge. 
Nor, indeed, did the English, after so manifest a violation of the 
laws of war, seem to expect anything else, for one of them, 
whom the Camerons supposed from his dress to be an officer, 
having got on board the ship, resolved to accomplish what the 
other had failed in, and that he might take surer aim, he rested 
his gun upon the side of the vessel. Lochiel noticed him, and, 
judging that he had no chance of escape " but by ducking, as he 
did before, kept his eye fixed upon the finger that he had at the 
trigger. But his foster-brother, who was close by, happening at 
the same time to take notice of the danger his Chief was in, and 
preferring his safety to his own, immediately threw himself before 
him, and received the shot in his mouth and breast. This is per- 
haps one of the most astonishing instances of affection and love 
that any age can produce. If fortitude and courage are qualities 
of so heroic and sublime a nature, what name shall we invent for 
a noble contempt of life, generously thrown away in preservation 
of one of a much greater value ?" Lochiel immediately revenged 
the death of this brave youth with his own hand, and, after the 
utter destruction of the whole party, excepting the Irishman and 
another man, whom we shall have occasion to mention hereafter, 
he carried his body three miles on his back, and interred him 
in the burial-place of his own family, in the most honourable 
manner he could, in the circumstances, contrive. Lochiel only 
lost four men, and his devoted foster-brother, who sacrificed his 
own life to save that of his Chief, during the whole of this re- 
markable engagement. A few more interesting details connected 
with it must be left over until our next. 
(To be continued.) 



13 
A LEGEND OF GIRNIGOE. 



TOWARDS the middle of the i/th century the family of Sinclair, 
who were Earls of Caithness, lived in a castle about two miles 
from the spot where the town of Wick now stands. This castle, 
which took its name from the family to whom it belonged, was, 
from the effects of time, tempest, and siege, rapidly falling into 
decay, and it was quite evident that it would not be habitable 
much longer. The inmates of Castle Sinclair, at the time of our 
tale, were the Earl and Countess of Caithness', a son about five 
years of age, several domestics, and about two score men-at- 
arms. 

The Countess of Caithness was the daughter of Sir Hugh 
Oliphant of Oldwick Castle, and had been wedded to the Earl at 
the early age of eighteen, but not early enough to prevent her 
from giving her heart to another. Whilst in her father's castle, 
Sir Dudley Merton, a young English Knight, was cast ashore by 
a storm upon the coast of Caithness, and was hospitably enter- 
tained by Sir Hugh. An intimacy was formed between Sir 
Dudley and the daughter of his host, which soon ripened into 
love, but Sir Hugh, though hospitable, was ambitious, and wished 
to see his daughter some day Countess of Caithness, so that 
when Sir Dudley asked the hand of the Lady Norna from her 
father, he was met with a scornful refusal, and ordered at once to 
leave the castle. The disappointed lover said a sorrowful fare- 
well to the lady, and departed southwards. Soon after, the 
Earl of Caithness, a stern, morose man, about fifty years of age, 
sought the Lady Norna's hand in marriage, and much against 
her will she was wedded to the Earl, and her father's ambitious 
hopes were fulfilled. 

Transported to the Earl's dark and gloomy residence she 
pined for her first and only love, the young Southron, and until 
the birth of her son, which took place about a year after her 
marriage, she lived a melancholy and lonely life. The Earl 
cared little for his young wife, whom he had married merely to 
strengthen his power with the family of Oliphant, and her days 
were spent in a chamber assigned to her, with no company save 



H THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

that of her little son, William, whom she idolised, and an old 
man-servant, named Rory Gunn, whom she had brought with 
her from Oldwick Castle, and who was devotedly attached to his 
young mistress. The Earl spent most of his time in making 
forays upon the neighbouring coasts in a large galley which he 
possessed. 

On one occasion he had been absent upon an excursion of 
this sort for several days, and the Countess was seated at her 
window in a turret of the castle, watching the sun as it sunk 
down towards the horizon, when the door of her chamber opened, 
and gave admission to a young stranger. He was encased in a 
complete suit of chain armour, which showed off his lithe and 
sinewy figure to perfection. His head was protected by a steel 
casque, the vizor of which was raised, exposing a countenance at 
once manly and good-humoured. The Countess in her pre- 
occupation had not heard him enter, but on the word " Norna " 
being pronounced by the stranger, she turned round quickly, and 
ejaculating " Dudley," fell senseless to the floor. Her little son, 
who was playing on the floor when Sir Dudley entered, now ran 
to the aid of his mother, and she soon came to herself, and 
entreated Sir Dudley to depart from the castle at once, ere the 
Earl should return. The Knight disregarded her entreaties, and 
related how he had travelled there alone that he might claim his 
Norna, and take her to his English home as Lady Merton. 

" Sir Dudley," said the Countess, " I am the wedded wife of 
another man, and nothing more must pass between us. Leave 
the castle, I beseech you, or the consequences will be terrible." 

In the excited state she was in the Countess had not heard 
the scraping of the galley upon the shingle outside, as it was 
drawn up on dry land, nor the voices of the rowers as they put 
away their oars and lowered the mast of the galley. Sir Dudley, 
moved by her entreaties, was saying farewell to the Countess, 
and was on his bended knee before her, in the act of kissing her 
hand, when a heavy step came up the stairs, the door of the 
chamber flew open, and the Earl entered. 

" Ha ! " he cried, " so this is the way you take advantage of 
my absence ! By Saint Andrew, you shall not do so again. 
What, ho ! men-at-arms ! " 

At these words several armed men poured into the chamber, 



A LEGEND OF GIRNIGOE. 15 

and stood like statues, awaiting further orders. Sir Dudley had 
drawn his sword, and was ready to act on the defensive. The 
Countess had fainted, and was in blissful unconsciousness of what 
was happening around her, whilst the little boy stood crying 
beside the prostrate form of his mother. 

"Seize that fool," cried the Earl, pointing to Sir Dudley, 
"and keep him a close prisoner till I have prepared his doom. 
As for the Countess, I will deal with her." 

The men-at-arms dashed at Sir Dudley, who made good 
-play with his sword, and for a few minutes the chamber rung 
with the clash of steel, but, at length, Sir Dudley's sword was 
knocked out of his grasp, and he was seized and hurried away, 
leaving, however, two of his assailants bleeding on the floor. 

The Earl then imprisoned his lady in her chamber, of which 
he kept the key himself. He took his little son out with him 
upon his excursions in the galley, the lad bidding fair to become 
as great a pirate as his father. Removed from the gentle care of 
his mother, he soon forgot all she had taught him, and the Earl 
became proud of his young cub, as he called him. 

Soon after the event narrated here, the Earl procured the 
services of Queen Mary's architect to plan a new castle for him. 
The spot chosen for the site of the proposed castle was an im- 
mense point of rock called Girnigoe, a little distance from Castle 
Sinclair, bounded on one side by the open sea, and on the other 
by a " geo " or deep gully, up which the sea rushed with the 
speed of a mill-race. The Earl immediately impressed into the 
work all the retainers upon his property, and the work was corn- 
menced by the building of a dungeon on the face of the rock to- 
wards the sea. The walls of this prison were nearly a yard thick, 
and it was entered by a steep and narrow stone staircase, at the 
foot of which was a deep slit in the wall to admit light to it. 
To the right was a thick door, which gave immediate access to 
the dungeon. The interior was lighted also by a loophole in the 
wall, but the small portion of light which it admitted served only 
to show the darkness. On the completion of the dungeon, the 
Earl ordered them to place the unfortunate Sir Dudley in it, and 
leave him to his fate, whilst they proceeded with the remainder 
of the castle. Into this hole, therefore, was Sir Dudley thrust, 
-and abandoned to a most terrible death. When he felt the 



16 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

approach of the grim despoiler, he exerted his remaining strength 
to scrape with a nail upon the wall of his tomb the words, 
" 1635 NAE HOPE,,' and these words are still to be seen by the 
traveller who inspects the ruins of Girnigoe Castle, if he has the 
courage to descend into the dungeon with a light. 

In the course of two or three years, the new castle was 
finished, and it was far larger and stronger than the old one. 
The unhappy Countess, who had been a close prisoner in Castle 
Sinclair ever since the fatal day when she was discovered with 
her old lover, was now transported to a chamber in Girnigoe 
Castle. 

Amongst other improvements which the architect had intro- 
duced into the building of the castle, was a secret staircase lead- 
ing down through the rock to the sea, and at the bottom of this 
staircase, in a deep, dark cove, was moored a small boat. This 
was intended to facilitate the escape of the inmates of the castle, 
if at any time it should be surrounded by enemies. The Countess's 
old servant, Rory, who was still retained in the castle, was con- 
stantly revolving plans in his head for getting his mistress out of 
it, and back to Oldwick, where she would gain her father's 
protection. But the Earl always kept the key of her chamber 
in his belt, except when food was sent up to her, when it 
was intrusted for the time to the care of a man-at-arms. At 
last a brilliant idea struck Rory, and he determined to lose no 
time in putting it into execution. One evening the Earl was 
coming downstairs from the top of the turret, where he had been 
taking a survey of the neighbouring coast, when Rory came up 
the stairs, and pretending to slip on a step, stumbled against the 
Earl, nearly knocking him down. Rory instantly recovered himself, 
and humbly begged pardon for his awkwardness, but in that short 
minute, when he fell against him, he had managed to abstract 
the key from the Earl's girdle unnoticed. Giving him a few hearty 
curses, the Earl went out of the castle and set out in his galley, 
and Rory knew that he would not return till morning, should 
he not discover the loss of the key. No time was to be lost ; 
Rory immediately liberated the Countess ; and taking her unseen 
outside the castle, brought her to the secret staircase. Here they 
descended, and after placing the lady carefully in the stern of 
the boat, he took the oars, and speedily rowed away from the 



CANADIAN FAREWELL TO LORD LORNE. 17 

castle. The night was dark and cloudy, and the wind was rising 
fast. The little boat began to pitch wildly about on the crests of 
.the waves. Still Rory kept on rowing, until the wind had in- 
creased almost to a gale. His hands were now powerless with 
exertion, and he let the boat drift as it would. Suddenly a 
vivid flash of lightning illumined the scene, and exposed to his 
eyes the form of the Earl's galley, not a hundred yards away, 
whilst at the same time the Earl himself, who was standing at 
the helm, observed the boat with Rory and the Countess. 
Muttering a deep curse, he steered straight for the boat, and 
watched with a pitiless and malignant eye the remains of the 
little craft, with his much-wronged wife and her faithful servant, 
disappear beneath the keel of his galley. H. R. M. 



A CANADIAN FAREWELL TO LORD LORNE. 



God bless and prosper thee, Lord Lome ! 

Whate'er thy new career 
Right well and nobly hast thou borne 

Thy princely part while here. 

Placed high in this conflicting land 

O'er Party's surging roar, 
With skilful and impartial hand 

Thou hast controlled thine oar. 

Succeeding, as thou didst, a chief 

Unmatched with us before, 
No wonder had'st thou struck a reef 

Ere thou had'st reached the shore. 

But thou has weathered rocks and tide, 

Pleased Colony and Crown, 
And filled all Highland hearts with pride 

O'er thy well-earned renown. 

Return to our beloved Queen, 

Receive her thanks with ours, 
And give her, what we ne'er shall screen, 

Our loyal love in showers. 

And thou, too, Princess, still shall reign 

In each Canadian heart ; 
" Soft winds soon waft thee back again," 

We utter as we part. 

God bless you both in heart and home, 

Wherever you may dwell. 
Our hearts are yours where'er you roam, 

And so we say FAREWELL ! 

WILLIAM MURRAY. 
ATHOLE BANK, HAMILTON, 
ONTARIO, October 1883. 

B 



iS Tilt: CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

THE LOWER FISHINGS OF THE NESS. 
BY CHARLES FRASER-MACKINTOSH, F.S.A., SCOT, M.P. 

II. 

///. Minor Disputes. Of old the Coble proprietors acted 
together in the letting of their fishings. The late H. R. Duff 
of Muirtown, in 1822, declined concurring with his co-coble 
brethren, the result being that it was found he could not be com- 
pelled to concur. 

In course of the Canal operations the river was much 
interfered with, temporary embankments and channels being 
necessary. Immense damage was done to the river bed, the 
dykes, cruives, etc., at the Islands by a sudden and great flood, 
on the 1 1 th December 1809, carrying from Dochgarroch down- 
wards these temporary embankments, and " fir and forest trees 
of very great growth cut in the woods of Borlum for Canal pur- 
poses." Thomas Davies, residing on the Green of Muirtown ; 
William Hughes, then presently residing at Dochgarroch; and 
Matthew Davidson, residing at Clachriaharry, were proceeded 
against, and had some difficulty in arranging with the Heritors, 
and with Messrs Forbes, Hoggarth, & Co. of Aberdeen, and Mr 
James Richardson of Perth, their Tacksmen. 

The following is part of the complaint of the tacksmen of 
the fishings : 

''lhat the petitioners are tacksmen of, and in possession of, the salmon fishiugs 
on the River Ness, comprehending the cruive fishing, and fishing by net and coble on 
and in the island opposite to the lands of Mr Grant of Bught. and which fishing has 
been supported and upheld principally by means of two extensive dykes forming a 
bulwark fence on the north and south side of the said island, from the west extremity 
thereof, and thereby taking the water in a great body off at the west extremity, and 
discharging it towards, and at the east through the cavities of the said bulwark 
gradually into the body of the river, and thereby excluding the free access of the 
salmon westward. That the respondents (Davies, Hughes, and Davidson) sometime 
ago entered into a contract or agreement with the Commissioners for making the 
Canal in the County of Inverness, or agents employed by them, for altering the course 
of the River Ness, running between the lands of Borlum and Dochgarroch, and they 
accordingly employed a great number of people, and formed a channel principally 
through the lands of Borlum, under fir and forest trees of very great growth, and 
about the end of November or beginning of December finished the acqueduct, and 
closed up the old channel of the river, and introduced the water into this new channel. 



THE LOWER FISHINGS OF THE NESS. 19 

That the trees which were cut on the said lands of Borlum, were partly employed in 
bounding the banks of the aforesaid acqueduct, and closing up the old channel of the 
River Ness, and the trunks of these trees were left in the channel of the said acqueduct 
to be disposed of as the elements would direct. 

"That on the eleventh day of December last, or some day in that month, a con- 
siderable flood came into the River Ness, the consequence of which was that owing to 
the insufficiency of the aforesaid embankments of the river in the aforesaid situation, 
the same gave way, and the water carried down not only all the wood used in the 
embankment, but also the trunks of the aforesaid trees, wantonly and improperly left 
in the aforesaid acqueduct or channel, and carried along with it the gangways used 
in the operation, and which was also improperly left after the operation in which they 
were used, had been finished. That these trunks of trees, log;:, and spars of v\ood, 
with the stones and shingle in the embankment, and the said gangways having, by 
the violence of the water been carried down to the lands of the Bught, they received 
a re-inforcement by breaking the works at the mills of the Bught, all which were 
thrown on the cruives, dykes, and carries in the aforesaid island, whereby the great 
dyke separating the south run of water, running along the said island, from the main 
body of the river, was broke, and an opening of about ten feet made opposite to the 
west corner of the lands of the Haugh. And the same dyke was broken, and an 
opening of about forty feet made nearly opposite the bridge on the Altnaskiach Burn, 
whereby the greatest part of the water in the foresaid run came in torrents in these 
channels. That another part of the said trunks of trees, logs of wood and timber, 
gravel and stones that accompanied them, made their \vay to the north of the said 
island, and, near to the house therein, broke the dyke dividing the north channel oi 
the river from the main body of it, and made an opening of about ten feet in it. And 
in like manner broke the said dyke opposite to the cross road separating the Infirmary 
lands from those of Ballifeary, and the consequence of this uas ihat the body o! tiie 
water of the said north channel rapidly discharged itself in these places. That besides 
this the said dykes are daily giving way from the effects of the said body of trunks of 
trees, logs, wood, and rubbish coming with violence upon them. " 

IV. The Lower Heritors and the Dukes of Gordon. The 
contentions twixt these parties lasted over half a century. The 
fishings belonging to the Castle of Inverness were commonly 
called the Castle Shot, and of old the Fore Shot. Without 
going further back than the original Charter of the Castle Lands 
to the Earl of Huntly in 1 509, it is found that the description of 
these fishings is " cnmpiscariis sub Castello de Inverness dictis terns 
spectan." The ordinary and plain significance of the word " sub " 
is "under," and as the bounds of the Castle were well defined, 
being surrounded with a wall, it might have been thought the 
limits of the fishing, viz., ex adverso of the river wall, could not be 
seriously questioned. But this was not to be. In 1/24, Alex- 
ander, second Duke of Gordon, setting forth that he stood 
heritably infeft, and seized in "All and Haill the Castle Lands of 
Inverness, with the fishing under the Castle Wall of Inverness, 



20 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

lying within the Sheriffdom of Inverness," raised process of 
declarator against the Heritors of fishings, to have it found and 
declared that he had the only good and undoubted right to the 
said fishing under the Castle Wall of Inverness, and that the 
same extends on the water of Ness the full length of the banks 
thereof, as the same is meithed and marched by the pursuer's 
lands above mentioned, and possessed by him and his prede- 
cessors past all memory of man, and that the Heritors on the 
Ness and their predecessors have done wrong in their violent 
molesting and impeding the pursuer and his tenants from the 
said fishing under the Castle Wall of Inverness in 1714 and 1715. 
A lengthened proof took place, in which the Heritors contended 
at first that the Castle Shot was included in the Charter of 1591, 
at least that possession had followed ; but by the evidence it 
appearing, that the Heritors had no exclusive possession, and in 
particular, that in 1688, when the deceased William Mack- 
intosh of Borlum was Bailie to the Duke of Gordon, and 
living in the Castle of Inverness, he, Borlum, had fished that part 
of the river under the Castle Wall of Inverness, and that " the entry 
to the said fishing was from the south end of the Castle Wall, to the 
end of Bailie Fowler's house, now possessed by Jonathan Thomson, 
near the Bridge," the Heritors did not contest the matter further, 
though they thought some of the expressions used in reference 
to the extent of the Duke's rights, were too vague. The Duke 
of Gordon got decree with .5 of expenses, and the Heritors 
having thereafter agreed to lease the Castle Shot for one year, 
matters stood over for about forty years. In 1766 the war broke 
out with great violence in the time of Alexander, 4th Duke. 
First an attempt was made, and processes intent to show that 
the one year's Jack had been continued tacitly, with the view of 
saddling the Heritors with the arrears of the Castle Shot rent for 
forty years. This was resisted at once successfully by such 
of the Heritors of 1766 as were singular successors, and finally 
with equal success by the heirs of the Heritors of 1724. Next a 
process was raised in which the Duke, altering the words in his 
charter from " under the wall of the Castle," to " opposite the wall 
of the Castle," and for which he was severely called to account, 
claimed the West bank also of the river, which would have had 
the effect of destroying the Trot Shot. 



THE LOWER FISHINGS OF THE NESS. 21 

The fishing heritors, founded on the ancient charters to the 
Town by Kings William, Alexander II., and David, whose char- 
ters were confirmed by James III. in 1464, and so anxious, it was 
stated, 

"Were our Sovereigns to preserve the privileges of the burgh, particularly the 
fishings, that in March 1474 King James granted a deed, whereby he appointed a 
particular miln upon the river to be demolished, as destructive to the Burgh's fishing 
on that river, and in place of that miln made a grant of his own milns." 

They go on to say that, 

" The Castle Shot appears to have been originally an encroachment upon the 
Town's right, but to which it is probable the townspeople at first submitted ex gratia 
for the accommodation and pleasure of the Constable or heritable Governor of the 
Castle and his family while residing there, and which indulgence has given occasion 
to the family of Gordon, who held the office of Hereditary Keeper of the Castle, as 
well as heritable Sheriff of the County of Inverness, to get a grant of this fishings of 
the Castle Shot, inserted in their charters, posterior to many of the ancient grants of 
the fishings in general made to the Town of Inverness." 

The following reference to the fabrics of the Castle is worthy 
ot preservation : 

"About the year 1724, it is stated, or soon thereafter, the Government thought 
fit to build a fort where the old Castle stood, which occasioned much stones and 
rubbish to be thrown down into the river under the Castle wall, and the rebells in the 
1745, having taken and blown up that fort, still more rubbish was thereby thrown 
into the river." 

The view of Inverness in Sclezer's work, was probably 
copied from some work published abroad, and as it shows 
Cromwell's fort entire, must have been taken twixt the 
years 1651 and 1661. The Castle there shown is a tall, 
handsome structure. In Sandby's publication about 1744, 
a copy of which is in possession of Mr No^e, Inverness, tne 
elevation is quite different, and no doubt depicts the Castle 
erected in 1724, destroyed 1745-6. At the small cost of two 
shillings and fourpence, we lately became possessed of a view of 
Inverness in 1747, wherein the Castle is shown unroofed and dis- 
mantled, but a great portion remains, and is much more like the 
earlier structure shown by Sclezer than the later by Sandby. 

In this contest, the Duke was most properly unsuccessful. 
Again, the Duke attempted to extend his fishing rights ex adverse 
of the Haugh lands, and would thus have the river from the 
Stone Bridge to the extremity of Wester Haugh, at the spot 
where once stood the little public-house near the Islands. In 



22 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

this severely fought action, the Duke was again unsuccessful in 
every point. The extent of the Castle bounds was well known, 
being 4 acres, 2 roods, 30 falls Scots -measure, its South-West 
boundary being a line drawn from the present principal entry at 
the head .of Ca;tle Street to the river. Immediately adjoin- 
ing, and now forming part of the Castle enclosures was the 
Balloch Hill, belonging to the Town, and having a certain front- 
age to the river, so the Duke necessarily failed in establishing a right 
opposite that part. Old views of Inverness show a depression 
where the Castle and Balloch Hills met, long obliterated ; and the 
cutting out of View Place, and artificial sloping south-westward, 
has so completely altered the appearance of the Balloch Hill, 
that it is not now a distinctive object. Latterly the Balloch Hill 
was used as a horse market. All this locality has been much 
altered. Anciently, Domesdale Street, afterwards called Castle 
Street, did not terminate as at present, one branch leading 
to Culduthel, etc., the other to the Haugh by View Place. 
Neither did the old Edinburgh Road turn off abruptly as at pre- 
sent from the Culduthel Road. Two at least of the houses at 
the top of Castle Street on the east side stand on Castle precincts, 
and the old Edinburgh Road struck off from Castle Street 
behind those houses, joining the present road near Clay Potts. 
Adjacent to the Balloch Hill came the two Haughs 
Easter and Wester these being divided by the burn of Altna- 
skiali. The Duke founded on Charters of 1662 and 1684, 
wherein, in the list of Castle lands, occurs the word " Haugh," 
and that they were really, though not nominally, included 
in the Charter of 1309 ; but the fishing Heritors, though several 
decrcets \\cre pronounced against them, fought with do termina- 
tion, and proved beyond doubt ultimately that the lands of Haugh 
were not expressly or by implication included in the original 
Charter to the Earl of Huntly in 1 509, though they surreptitiously- 
found a place among the Castle lands in the Charters of 1662 
and 1684, and de facto did not belong to the Gordons until long 
after the date of the Town's Golden Charter of 1591. 

The fir>-t noted mention regarding Haugh, which appears to 
have been a six merk land, and to have been possessed along with 
Knockintinnel and Culcabock, occurs in an instrument of sasine 
in favour of Alexander Hay of Mains, dated ;th November 1498. 



THE LOWER FISHINGS OF THE NESS. 23 

In 1532, William Hay of Mains sold the lands of Haugh to John 
Grant of Culcabock and of Glenmoriston. Grant's descendant 
sold Haugh to the Earl of Huntly in exchange for the undoubted 
Castle lands of Meikle and Little Hilton. Grant's charter to 
these excambed lands is dated I2th May 1623, and some time 
thereafter they were, inter alia, acquired by the Robertsons of 
Inshes. The Duke of Gordon had, as these facts were clearly 
proven, to submit ; further discredit being thrown on his Charters 
of 1662 and 1684, in respect they still comprehended Hilton, 
though Inshes had been some time in possession, and his charters 
confirmed by the Crown. 

In 1796, the Duke of Gordon sold to David Davidson, first 
of Cantray, for 10,500, with the exception of the Castle Hill, 
the last shreds remaining of the great Castle lands, originally a 
magnificent estate within the parishes of Dalarossie, Dunlichity, 
Dores, Bona, and Inverness, then belonging to him, viz., Porter- 
field, parts of Altnaskiah, Haughs, the Castle Shot Fishings, all in 
the parish of Inverness ; Bunachton, in Dores ; and Drumboy, in 
Dunlichity ; the present annual pecuniary value of the property 
belonging to the Gordons in this quarter having dwindled to one 
penny Scots for the blench superiority of the Castle Hill. 

C. ERASER-MACKINTOSH. 



DEPARTURE OF AN EMIGRANT SHIP. The following is a graphic 
description of a scene at the Pier of Hehnsdale in the beginning of January 1841, on 
the departure of an emigrant ship : 

" As the morning waned, every moment added to tlie throng t, at crowded the pier; 
party after party arrived with their rriei.ds, and the whole of the inhabitant-* nf H> Ims- 
dula seemed to have assembled to witness the <!eparture. It was a bustling, > et 
melancholy, sight. The emigrants were taking leave ->f friends they could never 
expect to meet again of a country they could never expect to wee. The n-iv-us 
agitated looks of the men, the short, qu.uk, broken sti,>, the conferences r. s les ly 
broken, and as restlessly renewed, ail told of the deup agonising feelings they were in 
vain striving 10 overcome. The grief of the women was loud ami open ; clinging to the 
relatives tliey parted from, they poured forth, in almost unmul igible ejaculations, their 
ayrony at leaving the ^len.s where thf-y were bom, and where they hoped to die, 
mingl ng in the swme iaeat.h their blessings and their prayers for tho.-e fthoui, although 
they could never more See, they could never forgot ; wi.ila tue children, btup.fied 
and bewildered at the scene around them, clung t<) their mothers, ami wept wuh 
them. But the tide served, and the boatmen were impatient. Au tff rt was made t< 
thr,>w some appearance of heartiness and good spirits into the last moments m..ny w< re 
to spend on Scottish ground. Hands weie wrung, and wr"i,g a-ain ; bumper* of whi-ky 
tossed wildly off ami at, ehei rs and shouts ; the women were forced almost faming into 
the boats, and the crowd up<>n the shore burst inl.o a lone, lud cheer, in which cv> n t, e 
phlegmatic Dutchmen joined ; and they were under war, while the poor fors..ken dogs 
stretched their lioad after their masters and howled piteuu.ly. Again and again was 
that cheer raised, and rei-ponded to from the boa f , while bonnets were thrown ii.to tl e 
air, handkerchiefs waved, and last words of adieu shouted to the receding shore ; while, 
high above all, the wild notes of the pipe were heard pouring forth that by far the finest of 
pibroch tunes, ' Cha, tile sinn tuillie' (we return no more)," lucernes* Courier, 



24 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



THE ETHICS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



PEASANT PROPRIETARY. 

IT is due to the readers of this patriotic magazine to explain that 
a short absence from home prevents me from sending a conse- 
cutive chapter for the present number. In addition to this, the 
subject matter of it the component parts of profit, and the cause 
and laws of interest requires careful examination and extensive 
reference, as the subjects themselves, and those connected with 
them, have not only been a great difficulty to all authorities on 
political economy, but are still unexplained, owing, I think, to 
not being referred to fundamental natural law. 

After the elucidation of the fundamental laws which consti- 
tute political economy a science and the most important of all 
sciences practical politics will naturally follow in a subsequent 
part of these papers ; but in the meantime, and as the subject is 
an urgent one in connection with the Highlands, I would repro- 
duce in these pages the following letter which I addressed to the 
Editor of the Glasgow Herald. The question of paying off the 
National Debt, and replacing it by a National Land Fund 
has been for some time the subject of my thoughts, and I am 
convinced that, socially and financially, its importance cannot be 
over-estimated : 

THE HIGHLAND CROFTERS. 

SIR, Kindly permit me to make a few remarks which have been sv^ested by 
the leading article in your issue of the and August relative to the case of the Highland 
crofters. Being entirely of your opinion as to the worthlessness of the theories of 
political economists, 1 prefer to look at the case of the Highlands as a matter of 
practical business a light, indeed, in which the judgment of your Glasgow readers is 
of the shrewdest and best. 

The most striking and instructive fact that has come to light in the evidence taken 
by the Royal Commission is the contrast between the condition of the freeholders 
of Orkney and that of crofters and tenant-farmers. There, in the very north of Scot- 
land, exists the same state of comfort and contentment as obtains in these beautiful 
Channel Islands, our most southerly group. The opening of the Fisheries Exhibition 
mainly through the excellent influence of our Royal Princes may be regarded as a 
most useful and significant event at the present time, by which the attention of the 
country is directed to the importance of this national industry, and I observe that one 



ETHICS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 25 

of the main complaints of the crofters is the want of harbours. Now, in this little 
island of Guernsey we have a population of freeholders and traders numbering nearly 
35.000, or over 1200 to the square mile, and, instead of being ''congested," labour i^ 
both dear and scarce. Sutherlandshire has a " congested " population of just 12 to 
the same area, and no harbours. Here we have the best harbour of refuge in the 
English Channel, built at a cost of over ,300,000 by the inhabitants. The amount 
required was over-subscribed for, and with the balance they built a beautiful market 
at a cost of ^"30,000. It is estimated that the average wealth per head of the popula- 
tion is double that of the United Kingdom. 

The part of your temperate article to which I desire to direct particular attention 
is the felt difficulty as to the " remedy. " Allow me to quote your remarks on this' 
important subject, not for the purpose of animadversion, but with a view, if possible, 
~to throw a gleam of light upon a very difficult problem. You say : " Mr Ferguson 
points for a solution to the few yeomen in Orkney who own their holdings, and have 
no cares and no grievances. A very pleasant idyllic picture was certainly presented 
to the Commissioners, which shows us what thrift, and industry, and long possession 
of small farms with prudence can do. But the State did not buy their farms for these 
happy Orcadians, and did not supply the stock for them. How are we to provide the 
crofters of Lewis and Skye with equally free lands, well stocked, and with the same 
thrift and prudence? It is all very well to say here is the solution, but how is it to be 
applied ? Is the State to buy out the landlords, and give sufficient farms to the 
crofters, stock the farms for them, and set them agoing rejoicing as small and inde- 
pendent lairds? The working men of the country in that case will have to pay for 
making the crofters happy and prosperous, and probably working men will ask whal 
have the crofters done that we should so handsomely provide for them. If, on the 
other hand, the crofters are to pay back the money advanced by the State, the State ' 
will become the landlord and the receiver of the rents. What advantage will that 
be ?" Pardon me for saying so, but if you had more faith in the Highlanders you 
would not think so much of the "hill Difficulty." 

I am very much mistaken if the consent of the British workman, to whom you 
point, and very justly so, as the most interested outside party, is not the easiest part 
of the business. I should like to feel equally certain about the consent of the House 
of Lords The " farmers' friends," who now find that the current of public opinion 
and feeling is running strongly against them, and seeing that no permanent relief can 
be extended to agricultural industry without some extensive scheme of finance, are 
taking the British workman into their confidence, and are acting upon his fears by 
shedding crocodile tears over him. We do not hear very much about him from that 
quarter when Afghan, African, and Egyptian wars are to be waged. The twenty 
millions that were spent on the Afghan wars is more than what may be required to 
expropriate Highland proprietors en bloc for constituting the remnan f of the gallant 
Gaelic race into freeholders. We must therefore ask the British workman if he is 
equally willing to advance twenty millions, not as a gratuity, but at 3 per cent., on 
the security of the Highlands. Hard-pressed as the poor fellows have been, the 
crofters are not much in arrears for rack rents, and, perhaps, less so than large far- 
mers, whilst many of them, I am glad to know, have money on deposit in the banks, 
which, as well as their labour, they are not free to deposit in a much safer bank the 
soil of their country for fear of confiscation. 

The economic law to which you refer in another part of the article, as having 
brought about the present crisis, does not appear to have affected freeholders. Does 



26 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

this not prove that it is not an economic but a very wasteful law? The answer comes 
readily enough to everybody's lips, " It is the rights of property." But in what do 
these consist ? If landlords are supposed to be carrying on a business, the only com- 
mercial definition I can give of them is that they are land usurers a thing that has 
been hateful to God and man since the world began. By the operation of this econo- 
mic law sheep-farming paid the landlord better than a peasantry, and now deer forests 
pay better than farming. Therefore it will pay the proprietors of Lewis (to which 
island, by the way, Mr Gladstone was so thankful for defending him from the waves 
of the Atlantic -a piece of good luck which was hardly vouchsafed to the Royal Com- 
missioners) to convert it entirely into a deer forest and grouse moors, and get the po- 
pulation to emigrate. I'ut then its trade with Glasgow would cease, and Stornoway 
would dwindle down to the size of Ullapool. Under these circumstances to expect 
that landlords will meet the demand of the crofters by enlarging their holdings is 
hopeless, and it is equally hopeless to expect that any measure on the lines of the Irish 
Land Act will meet the case. 

Of course, it would he foolish to expect that the crofters could at once by a 
coup d etat be placed in equally comfortable a position with the freeholders of Orkney 
and the Channel Islands, or that they could get land without paying for it. You are 
supposing a case which they themselves do not suppose or anticipate. There are 
crofter-fishermen in the Island of Lewis who are able to pay down for as much land as 
they care to occupy. The price at which that estate was bought was under ten 
shillings an acre. Supposing it to have doubled in value, a crofter could have ten 
acres of moor land for ten pounds, which, by the labour of himself and family, he 
would in the course of time raise to the value of twenty pounds per -icre. It will not 
pay the capitalist to do it, but it will pay the poor man handsomely if he can call it 
his own for ever, but not otherwise. The reason is apparent. The capitalist has to 
pay for adult labour, whereas the labour of the crofter's wife and children is as effective 
as his own in removing peat banks and clearing the ground of stones They will be 
able to stock and improve their own farms if they get what they want more ground 
and elbow-room -and in course of time there is no reason why they should not be as 
comfortable as the freeholders of Orkney. 

But in order to accomplish so desirable an object, they must be made freeho'ders 
ut a quit-rent, after the manner of the Prussian legislation ; and, to go on the lines of 
the British Constitution, it is only necessary to put the ancient prerogative of the 
Crown in motion by resuming the Highlands as a State domain for the purpose of re 
colonisation in freehold, after the example of Frederic the Great, father of his coun- 
try. Why should not we have a Victoria the Great, the mother of her country? In- 
deed, it would be but a well-deserved tribute of respect to her personal worth to se- 
cond her well-known affection for the Highlands and to confer freedom upon that por- 
tion of her people. Let Caledonia be free ! Freedom and security in perpetuity will 
act like magic, as it has done elsewhere, in calling forth industry and producing thrift. 
In a condition of freedom the bones and sinews of Highlanders \vill exert themselves 
as well in peace as in war, and no better security, in both fields, can the British work- 
man find anywhere, whilst the certain future "'unearned increment" will go to reduce 
his taxes Nor is it the crofters alone who stand in need of this blessing. The large 
farmers have had as little security for their capital in improvements as the crofters 
have h:id in respect of their labour, and the houses of the former are perhaps as much 
in want of repairs as those of the latter. 

What I should propose to the British workman is to make it a test question at 



THE NAME 'RIACH OR REOCH. 27 

the next election that a bill for the resumption of the Highlands in the name of the 
Crown he brought into Parliament, under which the Government should expropriate 
all landlords except those who farm, or are willing to farm, their estates by means of 
paid labour, leaving their manorial residences, home farms, and policies to large 
owners. That a loan bearing 3 per cent, interest be issued to the public as the open- 
ing of a gen.ral national land fund capable of any expansion that may from time to 
time be found necessary for enabling farmers to become freeholders of their holdings. 
If the Highland landlords should stand too much on the validity of their original titles, 
on examination it may be found that most, if not all of them, are very largely tainted 
with fraud, force, and high treason. I am, &c. 

Guernsey. MALCOLM MACKENZIE. 



THE NAME RIACH OR REOCH. In the Celtic Magazine, Oct. 1883, is 
a query about this name. The Gaelic Riabhach means greyish. It was applied to 
some one, say Donald Macgregor, when he arrived at the age of forty or fifty, to dis- 
tinguish him from some younger person bearing the same Christian name, and also a 
Macgregor. In English the name is spelled Riach, Reoch, Reik, Reikie : near Dun- 
keld a resident there is satisfied with spelling it Rake. Rough (Perthshire) is perhaps 
the same. The clever and popular writer, Angus B Reach, was a Riach. Perhaps 
some of those called Rich belong to this name What is the best way to spell the 
name in English ? As Riach is nearer Riabhach, it is bttter than Reoch. When our 
Scotch names go south across the Border, they suffer many things : the natives there, 
with a real or a pretended inability to sound ch guttural, make it either a k or ch soft ; 
sometimes they drop it altogether. Thus Tulloch is altered to Tullock and to Tulloh. 
Kinloch is made Kinlock. Strachan is made Straghan and Strahan. Murdoch is 
turned into Murdock and Murdo. Rolloch was made Rollock and Rollo. Malloch 
appears as Mallock. Are the Riachs a clan ? This question is asked by your corre- 
spondent. The descriptive word Riabhach was used in the same way as Dubh, dark ; 
Donn, brown-haired ; Ban, light-haired ; Buidhe, light-haired ; Gorm, having blue 
eyes ; Mor, More, big, tall ; Beag, Begg, short ; Kitto, Ciotach, left-handed ; Cam, 
deformed ; Borrie, Bodhar, deaf ; Glas, grey, pale ; Og, young. Several others 
might be added. When a person lived in a district where all were Macgregors, and 
many of them named Donald, people got tired of giving a person any more names 
than his Christian name and his name of description. If he emigrated lie might go 
on with the name of Donald Riach, leaving out his family-name or clan-name of Mac- 
gregor. It would be a mistake to suppose that Riach is a clan name. In theory all 
Macgregors are related to each other. Calling the number of clans twenty, you may 
have twenty groups of Riachs who are riot related to each other. I apologise for 
making this note so long, and for telling many readers what they knew before. Frag- 
ments about Scotch national matters and family-names are read with interest by Scoto- 
Australians, and in many a Canadian log-house the exile from Lochaber has his 
youth renewed by the matter in the Celtic Magazine. I know that many are very 
sensitive about remarks made on the spelling of their names. I cheerfully take the 
risk. I have never observed the name connected with Ireland. "Riabhach" might try 
to discover in what localities in Scotland the name is found, and put the same on re- 
cord My own district is the triangle formed by Dunkeld, the parish of Caputh, and 
the town of Perth. There are some instances in Perth and at Birnam, but the name 
is rather rare. 

Devonport, Devon. THOMAS STRATTON, M.D. 



28 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE 

A RUN THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 
BY KENNETH MACDONALD, F.S.A., Scot. 

IX. CHICAGO. 

SHORTLY before reaching Chicago which we did between eight 
and nine in the evening a gentleman decorated with a stout 
leather strap, on which some fifty or seventy brass checks were 
strung, asked each passenger to what Hotel he proposed going, 
and on being told, handed him one of the checks and demanded 
fifty cents in return. He was the agent of an Omnibus Company 
in Chicago which carries passengers and their baggage to any of 
the Hotels in the city, however near or distant, for a uniform 
charge of half-a-dollar. As things go in Chicago, the charge is 
not unreasonable, and the arrangement is convenient, especially 
for strangers. On the advice of my friend, the Inspector, I chose 
the Grand Pacific Hotel, and when we got into Chicago I handed 
my baggage check to one of the Hotel Porters, and thus relieved 
by the admirable system of American' railways in dealing with 
baggage, of all impedimenta, I soon found myself in my room in 
the Grand Pacific a large and finely appointed house in the 
centre of the business portion of the city. On the table lay a 
history of the great Chicago fire and of the rebuilding of the city, 
and near the window hung a patent fire escape, consisting ap- 
parently of a block and tackle enclosed in a- linen or canvas bag, 
on the outside of which directions for its use were printed. I 
afterwards ascertained that every bedroom in the house was 
similarly furnished. 

Chicago, the busy, aggressive, prosperous Chicago, is not to 
be seen by night. A walk through the city after ten o'clock dis- 
closed this much. The men who have made Chicago are not 
then about. Public Drinking-bars, Singing and Dancing Saloons 
there are, however, in plenty, and well patronised, too, by all ap- 
pearance. Poverty and wretchedness manifest their presence as 
elsewhere. A two hours' walk through the streets disclosed the 
fact that unless a stranger chooses to go deeper into Chicago night- 
life than is safe, he will learn little of the city by wandering about 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 29 

after dark. As I came to this conclusion, the row of Electric lamps 
in front of the Grand Pacific showed me where my temporary home 
was, and I made for it. An hour spent in the large entrance 
hall of the Hotel, studying American Hotel life, and moving about 
among the two hundred or so guests, who are scattered about in all 
sorts of attitudes smoking and talking, is much more pleasant, 
and probably more profitable, than an hour abroad in the streets 
at night. Right in front is the Hotel office, where the clerks 
stand behind the counter on which lies the Hotel Register. To 
the left is the Tobacconist's counter, where a brisk business is 
being done ; and further on the Barber's shop, in front of which 
is a Hosier's shop, also entered from the Hotel. To the right of 
the entrance, and inside the Hotel, is a small office where carriages 
can be hired, and round a corner, and further in on the same side, 
is a shop where all the newspapers and magazines of the day can 
be purchased. Liquors can probably be had, but the Bar is not 
in sight. None of the smokers are drinking drinking is not a 
feature of American Hotel life. In the Hall there is a fountain 
where iced water can be had by turning on a tap. This, is occa- 
sionally resorted to by the thirsty, but apparently nothing else is 
drunk. At the Bar counter, had I seen it, I should probably have 
seen, as I did elsewhere, a few thirsty souls, but they are the 
minority. The American makes his Hotel his home for the time, 
and he does not think it his duty to drink there oftener than he 
would at home. The absurd idea, so common on this side of the 
Atlantic, that he is bound to drink for " the good of the house," 
does not seem to occur either to him or his host. I do not say 
that Americans drink less than we do, probably they do not, for 
their public drinking bars are numerous, and apparently well 
patronised, but in their principal hotels the sale of drink is in 
practice kept apart from the ordinary business of the house, and 
the guest who wishes to have a drink is expected to go to the Bar 
for it. 

Before going to my bedroom I visited the Reading-room a 
large hall on the first floor over the entrance Hall and looked 
through that day's Chicago newspapers. American journalism 
I was not unfamiliar with, but the freedom with which the 
Chicago editor expresses himself is enough to send a cold shiver 
down the back of one accustomed to the " pink of propriety" 



30 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

journalism of Great Britain. A " leading" paragraph in the 
Chicago Herald of that day, referring to a series of evangelical 
services to be held in a few weeks, said the " regular army" was 
to be reinforced by eleven hundred clergymen from other parts 
that a reconnaissance had been made of Satan's intrenchments, 
and Chicago had been found the weakest point. Ecclesiastical 
meetings, of which a considerable number were reported in one 
of the papers, were dealt with in a manner more amusing to the 
general reader than to the gentlemen who took part in them. 
Ministers had just returned from their holidays, and if the re- 
ports were to be judged from, reverend gentlemen had a woful 
tendency to get up in the middle of an anxious discussion on a 
difficult question of Church policy, and make a speech on the 
number and size of the fish they had caught on the river or lake 
near which they had spent their holidays, or on any other subject 
than the one under discussion. 

In the morning one of a series of tramway rides brought me 
to the Chicago river, where among the crowds of ships, barges, 
and boats, a little squat-looking steamer cargo or tug-boat I 
know not which- presented what I thought at the time a per- 
fect type of the city to which she belonged. She came up the 
river puffing and snorting and making a noise which, even in the 
incessant din all around, stood out prominently as the greatest of 
all ; rushing along at a rate which seemed perilous to herself and 
to the other craft on the river, and yet so skilfully navigated 
that she left them all behind without injury to herself or them. 
Such a tub of a thing she was too, no fine lines or attempt at 
beauty about her, simply an ugly boat with a good engine and 
boiler inside, and a man in charge who was determined to go 
ahead. After watching her until she disappeared round a curve 
in the river, I mentall> ejaculated, " Well done, Chicago !" 

After a while I found myself near the shore of Lake Michi- 
gan, with a net-work of railway lines in front, a canal or dock 
beyond, and some ten or a doxen Elevators on the other side. To 
get to the Elevators was my object, and after dodging two or 
three trains and a number of unattached cars, I managed it. The 
Elevator is a Warehouse furnished with certain machinery. The 
machinery is merely a feature of the warehouse, but so important 
a feature that urain warehouses with an elevating arrangement 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 31 

arc known throughout Canada and the States as " Elevators." 
The manner in which grain was received and disposed of at the 
Elevators, had been repeatedly described to me, but it was still 
somewhat of a mystery, and I wanted to see the system in opera- 
tion. I selected one of the largest Elevators in the neighbour- 
hood, a building apparently between 120 and 150 feet in height, 
and on making my wish known to the gentleman in charge, he 
very courteously took me over the building. It was my good 
fortune to see a train of grain-laden cars delivering their contents 
at the Elevator, and a ship being loaded with grain. The cars, 
"which were loaded in bulk, were drawn up in front a long shoot 
was lowered from the Elevator into the first car, the machinery 
inside was set in motion, and in an incredibly short time the car 
was empty. The other cars were treated in the same way, and 
in almost less time than it takes to tell it the contents of that train 
were inside the Elevator. Inside, the grain is first received into a 
weighing bin, where it is weighed so carefully and accurately that 
the shortage on a train load of grain delivered in bulk at Chicago, 
after a journey of a thousand miles, is seldom more than a few 
pounds. From the weighing bin the grain is transferred to im- 
mense storage bins, some of which are fifty to sixty feet in depth. 
There the grain, if in good condition when received, will be kept 
for the first ten days for a cent and a quarter per bushel, while for 
each additional ten days, or part of that time, the charge is half-a- 
cent per bushel. Thecharge forstoring condemned or unmerchant- 
able grain is two cents per bushel for the first ten days, and half-a- 
cent for each five days or part thereof afterwards. Erom the 
middle of November to the middle of April the charge is limited 
to four cents per bushel, if so much is incurred, so long as the 
grain remains in good condition. 

The delivery of grain from the Elevator is equallyexpeditious. 
The ship or car to be loaded is brought to the Elevator, the shoot 
is lowered, the bins deliver their contents, and the loading is 
done so expeditiously that a locomotive bringing up a train of 
empty cars may wait while they are being filled. 

It may be said that this system makes no provision for 
keeping one man's grain apart from another man's. Well, neither 
it does, but that is of no consequence, so long as the grain in each 
bin is of one " grade." All grain coming into Chicago is, before 



32 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

being received into an Elevator, examined by a State Inspector 
and graded. The best quality is "No. I," the next, " No. 2;" 
and grain which is not up to the standard of one of the numbered 
grades (which in the case of barley run as low as No. 5), is 
graded as " Rejected." The Certificate of the Inspector is pre- 
sented at the Elevator, and the grain received and stored in bins, 
containing, or ready to receive, other grain of the same grade. 
A purchaser does not see the grain he buys in bulk, nor does he 
even see a sample. Does he want Wheat, he buys " No. 2 Spring ;" 
Corn, " No. 2 Yellow," and so on ; in every case he knows exactly 
what he has bought, and has no occasion to see it. Upon this 
system of State Inspection the grain trade of Chicago depends, 
to the Inspectors Chicago has entrusted her commercial honour, 
and her success proves that they have faithfully discharged their 
trust. 

Shortly before noon I went to the Board of Trade building 
with Mr Bird, a member of the Board, to whom I had been at 
my own request introduced. Mr Bird procured me admission to 
the portion of the building sacred to members of the Board a 
place where no dweller in Chicago other than members may 
penetrate. It was a long, well-lighted room, in which were per- 
haps from two to three hundred gentlemen walking about. 
There were three parts of the room where apparently something 
more lively than a conversation was being conducted. I went to 
the nearest of these, and found it something like a square plat- 
form with the centre scooped out. Three or four steps led up 
from the floor along the whole length of its four outward sides, 
and a similar number of steps led along the whole length of each 
of its inward sides, down to the floor level, a small square piece 
of the floor being visible in the centre. On the top and inside 
steps were a number of men gesticulating in a somewhat lively 
manner, and addressing each other in tones so loud and emphatic 
that I at first thought there was a fight. But they were only a 
few of the Bulls and Bears trying to make or break the market. 
Down in the centre, on the floor level, was one man who, with 
his coat over his left arm and his white hat in his left hand, was 
wielding his right hand, in which he held a few slips of paper, 
like a pump handle, and crying out as rapidly as he could utter 
the words, " I sell September," " I sell September," " I sell 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 33 

September three-eighths ;" and he continued to yell these words 
until, with the perspiration running down his face and his voice 
gone, he retired to make room for somebody else who took up 
the same cry. All this time some fifty others, and sometimes 
double that number, were standing on the steps and all round on 
the floor outside yelling, " I sell September," " I sell October," " I 
sell year ;" or, " I buy September," " I buy October," or, " I buy 
year," with some fraction added. Occasionally one of the crowd 
would retire to recruit, but his place was not left vacant for a 
moment a fresh comer took up the cry and the fearful din went 
on undiminished. After a while I sought out my friend to tell 
me what all this meant. His explanation was that to sell or buy 
" September " or " October " was to sell or buy grain deliverable 
at any time during the month named, the particular time being 
in the option of one of the parties whether the seller or pur- 
chaser I forget. In selling or buying " year," delivery is to be 
taken before the end of the year, the option being as before. 
The fraction named in the offer is the fraction of a cent, and is 
used for brevity, the whole number of cents in the price per 
bushel being understood ; usually, if not invariably, it is the 
number of whole cents in the last quoted price. The hours for 
business in the Board of Trade are from 10 or 1 1 A.M. till I P.M., 
and transactions entered into during that time have certain 
privileges in the way of dispensing with formalties which other 
transactions have not. When a broker wishes to buy, he selects 
one who is offering to sell for the month in which he wants 
delivery, looks at him as he yells and holds up his finger, the 
other stops his cry and holds up his finger too, the buyer says, 
" How much ?" the seller says, " five," " fifty," or " a hundred," as 
the case may be, according to the quantity he wishes to sell 
thousand of bushels being understood. Suppose the seller says 
" a hundred," and the buyer wants only fifty thousand bushels, the 
latter says, " I take fifty ;" each makes a note on one of the slips of 
paper he holds in his hand, and the bargain is closed. A bargain 
of this kind, to be enforced by the Courts, must have been trans- 
acted in Board hours. At any other period of the day a trans- 
action of similar magnitude would require the ordinary legal 
formalities. When delivery comes to be taken the thing is 
arranged with equal simplicity. The purchaser hands his cheque 

C 



34 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

for the price to the seller, and receives in exchange his grain do 
you suppose ? Not at all, an Elevator certificate or delivery order 
is what he obtains. This he gives to the agent of the Railway or 
Shipping Company which is to carry the grain to his customer in 
the Eastern States, or to New York, Montreal, or Boston, for ship- 
ment to Europe. The Company presents the certificate, gets the 
grain, and carries it to its destination, and the whole thing is done. 
Thus without ever seeing the grain purchased, or even a sample 
of it, the Chicago broker buys in the course of a year hundreds of 
thousands of bushels of all sorts of grain and ships it to his cus- 
tomers in all parts of the world, without the slightest fear that 
anything less valuable than he has bought and paid for will be 
delivered to him. And his confidence is amply justified. 

Towards one o'clock the din increases to such an extent that 
conversation in even the most distant part of the large room could 
onlybecarried on byaseries of shouts. Newcomers were constantly 
arriving and hurrying to one or other of the centres of disturbance, 
and as if there was not sufficient noise there already, the younger 
arrivals signalised their arrival by a leap as far into the crowd as 
they could propel themselves, and a whoop which sounded like a 
reminiscence of the not long past time when the site of the city 
was the heritage and possession of the Red Indian. A minute or 
two after one, the day's transactions are posted up in the Board 
room, and to one who has seen nothing but gesticulation, and 
heard nothing but yells of " I sell" and " I buy," their magnitude 
is a surprise. In the course of the year 1881 Chicago received 
by rail and ship about one hundred and forty million bushels of 
various kinds of grain, besides about five million barrels of flour; 
and its shipments in the same year amounted to over one hundred 
and thirty million bushels of the former, and over four and a-half 
million barrels of the latter. In addition to this there is an im- 
mense businessdonein Lumber, Seeds, Hides, Butter, Cheese, Cattle, 
Sheep,and Hogs the shipmentsof Hog Productsaloneduring the 
year mentioned considerably exceeding one thousand million 
pounds. When it is remembered that not only is the bulk of this 
business done in the Board of Trade, but in addition to it a 
practically incalculable amount of speculative business, which is 
never represented by receipts or deliveries of anything more sub- 
stantial than the amount of the wager that is the difference be- 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 35 

tween the price at the date of sale and that of delivery, it will 
readily be understood that during the few hours in each day 
when regular business is done, the Board of Trade is a lively 
corner. And it is a lively place. The Paris Bourse is a peaceful 
retreat compared with the Chicago Board of Trade when there is 
a " corner in wheat." Yet in the middle of their greatest excite- 
ment, they are ever ready for fun. If an unfortunate stranger in 
the balcony set apart for visitors who are not taken on the floor 
by a member commits the mistake of throwing himself back on 
his seat and putting his feet on the railing in front of him (a 
favourite attitude with Americans) every Broker on the floor 
forgets business, and turns round to yell " Boots, boots, boo-boo- 
boots !" until the astonished visitor, who usually has no concep- 
tion that this is not a part of the mad performance he has been 
previously watching, either, more by accident than design, shifts the 
offending members to the floor, or, keeping them too long in the 
objectionable position, is gently but firmly expelled, for shocking 
the feelings of the gentlemen beneath. Such is the Chicago 
Board of Trade as it struck a stranger ; but what of Chicago 

itself? We shall see in our next. 

K. M'D. 
(To be continued.) 



THE LITERATURE OF THE CROFTER QUESTION.-In Good Words Sheriff 
Nicolson gives a graphic sketch of "The Last Cruise of the Lively;" and we note with 
special satisfaction the kindly and sympathetic tone in which he speaks of the crofters. 
Their representatives everywhere, be says, with occasional exceptions, merited the 
compliment which was paid to their predecessors by Sir John M'Neill in 1851, when he 
reported that they gave their evidence "with a politeness and delicacy of deportment 
that would have been graceful in any society, and such as, perhaps, no men of tbeir class 
in any other country could have maintained in similar circumstances. ' Sheriff Nicolson 
says " the only persons whom the chairman of the Commission had to admonish anywhere 
for objectionable expressions were not crofters but educated men." Yet it is this valu- 
able class of the community upon whom a leading Liberal journal [the Scotsman] is con- 
stantly pouring contempt and scorn, and who are driven to such extremities by 
the Highland lords of the soil, that there is no alternative for them save starvation or 
exile. "The I&le of Skye in 1882 and 1883," a new volume by Mr A. Mackenzie, of 
Inverness, gives a detailed account of evictions in that island which affected directly 
no fewer than seven hundred families, each, on an average, representing at least five 
persons, thus making a grand total of more than 3500 souls, not less than two thousand of 
whom were evicted, during the last half century, from the property of Macleod of Mac- 
leod. "What physical misery," exclaims Mr Mackenzie, "what agony of soul, these 
figures represent, it is impossible even to imagine !" Nor does this exhaust the woeful 
story; for a terrible amount of suffering has been inflicted, apart altogether from the 
cases of expatriation, on the hundreds of poor people removed from one portion of the 
island to another many of them robbed of their hill pasture, and left to comparative 
starvation, with their cattle, on wretchedly small and unprofitable patches among the 
barren rocks on the sea-shore. And all this misery and agony have been inflicted to 
gratify the inhuman selfishness of some two or three persons, who, by the mere accident 
of birth, enjoy a power which they could never have otherwise secured for themselves. 
Christian Leader. 



36 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 

BY ALEXANDER MACBAIN, M.A. 



VII. DRUIDISM (Continued.) 

SUCH is the history of Druidism in Gaul and early Britain : of 
its course in Ireland we have no direct information. It is only 
when Christianity has been long established, and Druidism a 
thing of the remote past, that we have writers who speak of the 
Druids ; and in their eyes the Druids were but magicians that 
attended the courts of the pagan kings. The lives of the pioneer 
saints, Patrick and Columba, are full of contests between them- 
selves and the royal magicians, who are called in the Gaelic 
Druid and. in the Latin versions Magi. But in all the numerous 
references to them in Irish chronicles and tales there is no hint 
given of Druidism being either a system of philosophy or re- 
ligion : the Druids of Irish story are mere magicians and diviners, 
sometimes only conjurors. But as such as magicians the 
Druids play a most important part in Irish pagan history, as 
chronicled by the long posterior Christian writers. From the 
primaeval landing of Partholan with his three Druids, to the days 
of Columba, we have themselves and the bards exercising magic 
and divining powers. The second fabled settlers of Ireland, the 
Nemedians, meet the invading Fomorians with magic spells ; but 
the fairy host of the Tuatha De Dannan are par excellence the 
masters of Druidic art. Their power over the forces of Nature 
over sea, wind, and storms shows them plainly to be only de- 
graded gods, who allow the sons of Miled to land after showing 
them their power and sovereignty as deities over the island. The 
kings and chiefs had Druids about them to interpret omens and 
to work spells ; but there is no reference to these Druids being a 
priestly class, and their power was limited to the functions of 
mere divination and sorcery. Two of the most famous Druids 
were Cathbadh, Druid of Conchobar Mac Nessa, the instructor of 
Cuchulain, who, among many other things, foretells the fate of 
Deirdre and the sons of Uisnach, even before Deirdre was born ; 
and Mogh Ruith of Munster, who single-handed opposed Cor- 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 37 

mac and his Druids, and drove them by his magic fire and storm- 
spells out of Munster. The Druids of King Loegaire oppose St 
Patrick with their magic arts ; one of them causes snow to fall 
so thickly that men soon find themselves neck-deep in it, and at 
another time he brings over the land an Egyptian darkness that 
might be felt. But the saint defeats them, even on their own 
ground, much as Moses defeats the Egyptian magicians. St 
Columba, in Adamnan's life of him, is similarly represented as 
overcoming the spells of the Northern Druids. Broichan, Druid 
to King Brude, caused such a storm and darkness on Loch-Ness 
that the navigation appeared impossible, until the saint gave 
orders that the sails should be unfurled and a start made. Then 
everything became calm and settled. We are also told in many 
instances how the Druids worked these spells. A wisp of hay, 
over which an incantation was made, when cast on a person, 
caused idiocy and deformity. The Druidic wand plays an im- 
portant part, a blow from it causing transformations and spells. 
It must be remarked, too, that the wood used for wands and 
Druidic rites and fires was not the oak at all, as in Gaul : sacred 
wood among the Irish Druids would appear to have been the 
yew, hawthorn, and, more especially, the rowan tree. Divination 
was an important feature of Druidic accomplishments, and there 
were various forms of it. Pure Druidic divination sometimes 
consisted in watching the Druidic fire how the smoke and flame 
went. Sometimes the Druid would chew a bit of raw flesh with 
incantation or " oration" and an invocation to the gods, and then 
generally the future was revealed to him. Sometimes, if this 
failed, he had to place his two hands upon his two cheeks and 
fall into a divine sleep, a method known as " illumination by the 
palms of the hands." Fionn used to chew his thumb when he 
wanted any supernatural knowledge. The bards, too, were di- 
viners at times, a fact that would appear to show their ancient 
connection with the Druids. The bardic divination is known as 
" illumination by rhymes," whon the bard in an ecstatic state 
pours forth a flood of poetry, at the end of which he brings out 
the particular fact that is required to be known. Connected with 
this is the power of poetic satire. If a man refused a gift, the 
bard could satirise him in such a way that personal injury would 
result, such as blisters and deformities. 



38 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Irish Druidism consists, therefore, merely of magic and 
divination ; it is not a philosophy, nor a religion, nor a system. 
It is quite true that we have, at least, an echo now and then of 
the time when Druidism in Ireland and Scotland was something 
different, and when even human sacrifices were offered. Columba, 
in commencing the building of his church at lona, addressed his 
followers in words which clearly point to human sacrifice. " It is 
good for us," says he, " that our roots should go under the earth 
here ; it is permitted that one of you should go under the clay of 
this island to hallow it." The story goes on to say that Odran 
arose readily, and spoke thus : " If thou shouldst take me, I am 
ready for that." Columba readily accepted his offer, and " then 
Odran went to heaven, and Columba founded the church of Hi." 
It is said that a human being was slain at the foundation of 
Emain, the mythic capital of Ulster ; and in Nennius we have 
a remarkable story told of King Vortigern. He was trying to 
build a castle on Snowdon, but somehow, though he gathered 
ever so much material, every time it was " spirited" away during 
the night. He sought counsel from his " magi" (the Irish trans- 
lation calls them Druids), and they told him that he must find a 
child born without a father, and must put him to death, and 
sprinkle with his blood the ground where the castle was to stand. 
Nor is tradition of the present time silent on this matter. It is 
said that Tigh-a-chnuic, Kilcoy, in the Black Isle, had its founda- 
tion consecrated by the slaughter of a stranger who chanced to 
be passing when the house was to be built, but unfortunately his 
ghost used to haunt the house until he was able to disburden his 
woes to somebody, and he then disappeared. 

The sum and result of our inquiry into Druidism may be 
given in the words of Professor Rhys : " At the time of Caesar's 
invasions, they were a powerful class of men, monopolizing the 
influence of soothsayers, magicians, and priests. But in Gaul, 
under the faint rays of the civilization of Marseilles and other 
Mediterranean centres, they seem to have added to their other 
characters that of philosophers, discoursing to the youths, whose 
education was entrusted to them, on the stars and their move- 
ments, on the world and its countries, on the nature of things, 
and the power of the gods." Whether the doctrine of the trans- 
migration of souls was really of native origin or borrowed from 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 39 

the Greeks, must remain an open question. Some think it un- 
likely that the central doctrine of Druidism should have been 
derived so late in the history of the nation, or derived at all, from 
a foreign source, and they appeal to the fact that Britain was the 
home of Druidism, a country which could have had little inter- 
course with Marseilles. But in connection with this idea of its 
British origin, it must be remembered that at a certain stage of 
culture, nations are apt to consider their neighbours, provided they 
are in a lower stage of civilization, much more religious than 
themselves. The Romans always believed the Etrurians to be 
more versed in religious matters than themselves. So, too, the 
Gauls probably looked on British Druidism, with its "pristine 
grimness" of practices, as the source of their own, while in reality 
their own was doubtless an independent but more enlightened 
development. Professor Rhys considers Druidism to be of a 
non-Aryan character, and calls it the religion of the pre-Celtic 
tribes, from the Baltic to Gibraltar. Now, in what we have left 
us recorded of Druidism there is absolutely nothing that can be 
pointed to as non- Aryan. The strong priestly caste presented 
to us in Caesar, as divided off from the nobles and the commons, 
can be somewhat paralleled in the Hinduism of India with its 
rigidly priestly caste of Brahmans, who monopolised all religious 
rites. And Brahmanism is an Aryan religion. Among the 
Gauls, from the superstitious cast of their minds, a priestly class 
was sure to rise to a position of supreme power. Their human 
sacrifices can be matched, in some degree, by actual instances of 
such, and by rites which pointed to them as previously existent, 
among other Aryan nations, including those of Greece and Rome ; 
only here, as before, the impressionable and superstitious charac- 
ter of the Gauls drove them to greater excesses. The doctrine 
of the transmigration of the soul is a tenet of both Brahmans 
and Buddhists, of Aryan India, and it found its classical develop- 
ment in the views of the Greek Pythagoras. The position and 
fame of the Druids as magicians is, as Pliny points out, of the 
same nature as those of the Magi of Aryan Persia. Some again 
think it absurd that if the Druids were such philosophers, as they 
are represented to have been, they would be so superstitious as 
to practise human sacrifices, and other wild rites. But there is 
no incongruity in at once being philosophic and superstitious ; 



40 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

the human mind is very hospitable in its entertainment of quite 
opposite opinions, especially in moral and religious matters ; for 
there is a wide difference between theories of the intellect and 
practices prompted by the emotions. 

CELTIC RELIGION IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 

In tracing the history of Celtic religion, we have established 
that the religion of the Gauls fully represents the pagan religion 
of both the great branches of the Celtic race the Brythonic 
(Gauls and Welsh) and the Goidelic (Gaelic races). From 
Caesar's account of the religion of the Gauls to the first native 
notices of even the history of Celtic Britain and Ireland, there is 
practically a period of a thousand years. During the interval, 
Christianity had established its sway, nominally at least, over 
the whole land, and paganism was for centuries a thing of the 
past. It may, however, be remarked that one or two Latin eccle- 
siastical histories appeared in the eighth century notably the 
works of Adamnan and Bede, but we in vain scan the pages left 
us of their works for any definite information as to the previous 
religion. Gildas, a century before either of these writers, makes 
only a passing reference to the old faith. " I shall not," says he, 
" enumerate those diabolical idols of my country, which almost 
surpassed in number those of Egypt, and of which we still see 
[circ. A.D. 560] some mouldering away within or without the 
deserted temples, with stiff and deformed features as was cus- 
tomary. Nor will I call out upon the mountains, fountains, 
or hills, or upon the rivers, which now are subservient to the use 
of men, but once were an abomination and destruction to them, 
and to which the blind people paid divine honour." Our know- 
ledge of the local development of Celtic religion in Britain and 
Ireland cannot be obtained directly from contemporary history: 
we have, it is true, some British inscriptions of the Roman period, 
which give, mid a host of minor and local deities, one or. two 
important gods. But our information must be drawn, nearly all, 
from the heroic poems and tales, which do not date much earlier 
than a thousand years ago ; and most are far later than this period. 
For information as to the ritual of the old religion, local customs 
and superstitions Beltaine bannocks and Samhuinn fires form 
our only guides. 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 41 

It will also be necessaryto discuss separately the remainsof the 
religion of the early Welsh and the early Gaels. The religion of the 
former we shall name " British," of the latter, " Gaelic." And it 
must be remembered that the Welsh are doubtless the remnant 
of the Gaulish population which, about the time of the Roman 
conquest, must have occupied England (except Cornwall and 
Wales) and Lowland Scotland. Gaul and England had, there- 
fore, practically the same people and language in the first century 
of this era, and there now remain of them still speaking the 
language, the Bretons of France and the Welsh of Wales, from 
which country they drove out or absorbed the previous Gaelic 
population in the fifth century of our era, or thereabouts. The 
" Gaelic Religion " will include the early religion of Ireland and 
the Highlands of Scotland. 

BRITISH RELIGION. 

The gods of Britain suffered what appears to have been the 
" common lot " of gods ; they were changed into the kings and 
champions, the giants and enchanters, of heroic tales and folk- 
lore. In the words of the poet : 

" Ye are gods, and behold, ye shall die, and the waves be upon you at last. 
In the darkness of time, in the deeps of the years, in the changes of things, 
Ye shall sleep as a slain man sleeps, and the world shall forget you for kings." 

The great deity, " Belinus," appears in the pages of Geoffrey, of 
Monmouth, as a mere mortal conqueror. In company with his 
brother, Brennius or " Bran," he marched to the siege of Rome, 
when " Gabius and Porsena " were consuls ! Gargantua appears 
twice as a British King, under the title of Gurgiunt. Camulus, the 
war-god, who gave his name to Camulodunum, now 0/-chester, 
is presented as Coel Hen, " Old King Coul " of the song, who 
gave his name to the Ayrshire district of Kyle. The god, 
" Nodens," is the Nudd of Welsh, and King Nuada, of Irish story; 
and Lir, the sea-god, is immortalised in the pages of Shake- 
speare as an old British king. Some of the gods fight under 
Arthur's banner, and perish on the battlefield of Camlan, along 
with him. There is, consequently, a considerable amount of con- 
fusion in the Welsh tales, which does not appear in the more 
consistent tales of Ireland. Probably, there were kings of the 
names of Beli, Coel, Urien, and Arthur, and there certainly were 



42 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

kings and chiefs, of the names of Brennus, Cassibelaunus, and 
Caractacus, but their history is irretrievably mixed up with that 
of deities and demigods, possessed of similar names. Thus, Bran 
the Blessed, is a son of Lir, a -personage of such gigantic pro- 
portions that no house could hold him, and evidently a degraded 
god, possibly a war-god. He next appears as father of Caradoc 
for whom he is sent as hostage to Rome, when the latter is con- 
quered by Claudius. In Rome he is converted to Christianity, 
which he introduced into Britain, and hence his name of " Bran 
the Blessed." And again he is brother of Belinus, and the same 
as the Brennus of the Roman historians, who sacked Rome in B.C. 
390. It is, therefore, a matter of great difficulty to take either 
history or myth out of the confusion in Welsh poetry and tradi- 
tion, caused by a little knowledge of classical and Biblical history, 
a history which is interwoven with native myths and facts. 

The inscriptions of Roman times show that the religious 
condition of Britain then differed in no respect from that of Gaul. 
The local deities were assimilated to the corresponding deities 
of Rome, and we have in Britain combinations like those met 
with in Gaul : the Roman deity has the corresponding British 
name attached to him on the votive inscription by way of 
epithet. Thus, at Bath, altars are dedicated to Sul-Minerva, 
Sul being a goddess unknown elsewhere. On the Roman wall, 
between the Forth and Clyde, the name of Mars-Camulus ap- 
pears on the inscriptions, among many others to the "genii" of the 
places, the spirits of "the mountain and the flood," and to "Sancta 
Britannia" and " Brigantia," the goddesses of Britain and the land 
of the Brigantes respectively. The most interesting inscriptions 
were those found in the temple of a god discovered at Lydney 
Park, in Gloucestershire, One inscription bears to be to the 
" great god Nodon," which proves the temple to have been dedi- 
cated to the worship of Nodon, a god of the deep sea, figured on 
a bronze plaque as a Triton or Neptune borne by sea-horses and 
surrounded by a laughing crowd of Nereids. This deity is identi- 
fied with the legendary Nudd, known in Welsh fiction only as 
the father of famous sons and in Irish story as King Nuada of 
the Silver Hand, who fought the two battles of Moytura, and 
fell in the second before " Balor of the Evil Eye," the King of 
the Fomorians. 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 43 

Passing, however, to the Welsh legends and myths preserved 
in the " Ancient Books of Wales" and in the prose " Mabinogion," 
we can easily eliminate three principal families of deities, the 
children of " Don," of " Nudd," and of " Lir." Of these the first 
are purely Welsh, the second the children of Nudd have Irish 
equivalents both in name and office, while the children of Lir 
belong equally to both nations. The family of Don is evidently 
connected with the sky and its changes. He has given his 
name in Welsh to the constellation of Cassiopeia, called Llys 
Don, the court of Don. The milky way is named after his son, 
Gwydion, Caer Gwydion, the city of Gwydion ; and his daughter 
Arianrhod, "silver-circled," inhabits the bright circle of stars 
which is called the Northern Crown. With the name Don may 
be compared that of the father of the Irish hero Diarmat, son of 
Donn. Gwydion is the greatest of enchanters a prince of the 
powers of air. He can change the forms 'of trees, men, and 
animals, and along with " Math, the son of Mathonwy," his master, 
styled by Professor Rhys, the Cambrian Pluto, though rather 
a god of air than earth, he forms a woman out of flowers.' "They 
took the blossoms of the oak, and the blossoms of the broom, 
and the blossoms of the meadow-sweet, and produced from them 
a maiden, the fairest and most graceful that man ever saw." 
Amaethon, the son of Don, is a husbandman doubtless a god 
of weather and crops. He has a fight with Arawn, king of 
Annwn, or Hell, for a white roebuck and a whelp, which he had 
carried off from the realms of darkness. The battle is known as 
the " battle of the trees," and in it Gwydion, by his divinations, 
won the victory for his brother, for he guessed the name of the 
person in the ranks of his opponents, which had to be guessed 
before either side won. 

Nudd, like Don, is eclipsed by his family. He appears to 
have been god of the deep and its treasures. His son Gwynn, 
known always as Gwynn ap Nudd, is the Welsh king of the 
Fairies in the widest sense of the word. It would appear that 
Gwynn is no less a person than the god of the next world for 
human beings. He answers, therefore, to the king of " Tir-nan- 
og," " Land of Youth" of the Irish legends, and " Tir-fo-Thuinn" 
of the Gaelic stories the land below the waves. The son of the 
deep-sea god is naturally enough made lord over the happy realm 



44 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

under the waves of the West. Christian bias, however, gave 
Gwynn a more sinister position. We are told that God placed 
him over the brood of devils in Annwn, lest they should destroy 
the present race. A Saint of the name of Collen one day heard 
two men conversing about Gwynn ap Nudd, and saying that he 
was King of Annwn and the Fairies. " Hold your tongue 
quickly," says Collen, " these are but devils." " Hold thou thy 
tongue," said they, " thou shalt receive a reproof from him." 
And sure enough the Saint was summoned to the palace of 
Gwynn on a neighbouring hill top, where he was kindly received, 
and bid sit down to a sumptuous repast. " I will not eat the 
leaves of the trees," said Collen ; for he saw through the enchant- 
ments of Gwynn, and, by the use of some holy water, caused 
Gwynn and his castle to disappear in the twinkling of an eye. 
The story is interesting, as showing how the early missionaries 
dealt with the native gods. Gwynn, according to St Collen, is 
merely a demon. His connection with the lower world is brought 
out by his fight with Gwythyr, the son of Greidwal, for Cordelia, 
the daughter of Lir or Lud. She is represented as a splendid 
maiden, daughter of the sea-god Lir, " a blossom of flowering 
seas," at once a Venus and a Proserpine, goddess of the summer 
flowers, for whom there is a fight between the powers of the 
worlds above and below the earth respectively. Peace was made 
between these two deities on these conditions : " that the maiden 
should remain in her father's house, without advantage to either 
of them, and that Gwynn ap Nudd, and Gwythyr, the son of 
Greidwal, should fight for her every first of May, from thence- 
forth till the day of doom, and that whichever of them should be 
conqueror then, should have the maiden." 



THE CROFTER ROYAL COMMISSION has completed the taking of evi- 
dence throughout the Highlands, finishing up in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Whatever 
may be the outcome of its labours, so far as the Report and proceedings thereon in 
Parliament are concerned, the Commission has already done unspeakable good, by 
exposing the evils of Highland estate management to the world. The Report will be 
looked forward to with great interest, but whatever it may recommend, public opinion 
will assuredly force a very great and early change in the relationship between landlord 
and tenant in the Highlands, to the advantage of both. 



45 
"PEERMEN" AND THEIR RELATIONS. 

I THINK it may be useful to follow up Mr Linn's delightful 
paper with the little knowledge I possess on this head. I 
have a right to speak on the subject, seeing that in my very early 
life when about six years of age I acted the " Peerman " often 
when living at my grandfather's house in Corriebeag. I have 
held the fir torch in the byre when the servant was milking 
the cows, and I have accompanied her to the river, holding it 
when she went for her stoupfuls of water. At the slack time of 
the year the men of each household went to dig the roots of the 
fir trees out of the bogs, and they were placed uncut to dry, on 
what was called a "farradh." When winter came and lights 
were required, stock after stock was taken down and cut into 
neat, small candles, and if there was a very knotty stock it was 
called " stoc suiridhich," and carefully laid aside, to be given to 
some young man when his patience as a husband was to be 
tested, by the calmness he manifested over this very trying and 
difficult ordeal. A " leus," or torch of fir, was a sure protection 
against ghosts or evil spirits. 

When, at that time I referred to, I lived at Corriebeag, 
Locheil-side, the nearest house to us was occupied by a woman 
who was considerably above a hundred years old. She had all 
her faculties and the force of a young woman until within three 
days of her death. 

She was not an amiable woman, her temper was something 
awful, and she could improvise and compose verses of the most 
sarcastic and scurillous sort up to the last day of her life. When 
the centenary of Prince Charles Stuart's raising his standard at 
Glenfinnan was held at that historic spot, the ladies and gentle- 
men driving past little dreamed that in a little hut by the road- 
side a withered old crone lived who actually remembered the 
gathering they commemorated, and who had seen Bonnie Prince 
Charlie at the head of his men. This old woman's grandson and 
his wife lived with her, and when the great-grandchildren were 
born she was sorely exercised on their account, in case the fairies 
might steal them, and among the other spells used by her to save 
her descendants from so sad a fate, she charred a piece of fir in 



46 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

the fire, and made the sign of the cross with it daily on the infant. 
At the Dark Mile near Loch-Arkaig there are two hillocks, called 
respectively Tor-a-Mhuilt and Tor-a-Chronain. The low wailing 
sounds heard there the sobbing of the winds, the rustling of 
the leaves, the wimpling of brooks, and the waving of the branches 
of the trees, made the poetic and imaginative people of the 
country think they were hearing the dead holding converse in 
low whispering tones with one another. 

They put it thus in a saying that has been handed down 

"Tor-a-Mhuilt is Tor-a-Chr6nain, 
Far am bi 'na mairbh a comhradh." 

The road leads between these low hills, and one night when a 
man was passing there, carrying the head of an enemy he had 
slain, a voice came to him alternately from each hill, saying " Fag 
an ceann," " Leave the head ;" to which request he each time 
replied, " Cha'n fhag mi 'n ceann," " I will not leave the head.' 
At length the cry from each hill was " Mur bhi' dhomhsa an leus 
giubhais tha os do chionn dh'fhagadh tu da cheann," " If it 
were not for the fir torch you hold above you, you would leave 
two heads." That meant, of course, that he would leave his own 
head as well as the other. But he had taken the precaution of 
having a fir torch to light him on his way, as well as to protect 
him from harm, and his faith had its reward. 

I have seen the bark of the birch used for light. They did 
not go to the wood to seek it for that purpose, but if a birch 
tree was being used, the bark was retained for light, along with 
the fir, or alone. The bits were dipped in grease or oil, each 
being called " beileag." 

The Gaelic name for the "roughy," or " ruffy," is "buaichd," 
and I have often seen one made to give light during supper and 
the reading of the chapter ; it was, of course, blown out when all 
knelt in prayer. Another improvised light of this sort is the 
" coinneal ghlas." The grease is placed in a piece of old white 
cotton, and rolled into the shape of a candle. It gives a splendid 
light, but does not last long. I heard the following anecdote 
told about the " coinneal ghlas," or " grey candle:" Some Eng- 
lishmen were passing the night at King's House, in the Black 
Mount, and were complaining bitterly of the miserable light 
afforded them by one lean, sputtering tallow candle, when a 



"PEER-MEN," AND THEIR RELATIONS. 47 

Highlander joined them. He, too, said he thought they were 
badly used in being supplied by this light, that only made the 
darkness visible, and on going out for a moment, he asked the 
landlady to make six large candles of the " coinneal ghlas" kind, 
and bring them to him all lighted when he called for them. He 
returned to the Englishmen ; and, by-and-bye, they rose to go 
to bed, and the Highlander said he had to sit up late, having 
some writing to do ; and added " I must get better light." 
" If you can," said one of the strangers, with a sneer. The 
Highlander forthwith ordered in " six candles with the wicks on 
-the outside." " Candles with the wicks on the outside," echoed 
all the Englishmen simultaneously in great surprise, and when 
they saw the blaze that surrounded the Highlander with those 
candles on his table, they went off to bed muttering something 
worse than " Well, I never." They did not know that the candles 
were blown out the moment after they left the room, nor how 
short a time they would last, even if they were left lighted. 

The lowest form of artificial light in the Highlands was the 
following : When the fire was getting spent, two or three fresh 
peats were put on, and when the side next the fire of those got 
charred, the cry " Tiondaidh foid," " Turn a peat," was given to 
the person most conveniently situated for that performance. 
Even that was better than the contentment with total darkness 
that existed in some districts. I have heard it said that in Blar- 
macfaoildeach, in Lochaber, when supper was ready, that the 
goodwife of the house used to go about groping for a hand, say- 
ing " Fair do lamh ;" and having found the searched-for member, 
she placed a bowl in it, saying " So do shuipeir." Verily, it 
might be said of each one who partook of that meal, " Great is 
thy faith." 

It is interesting to know., that it was cannel coal that Robert 
Burns used, and that by its light he wrote the greater number of 
his poems. The iron with which he used to break off the charred 
parts, in order to get a fresh blaze, was long in the possession of 
an old lady who is a personal friend of mine. She spent some 
years of her girlhood with Bonnie Jean, as companion to the 
poet's grand-daughter Sarah, and she gave this interesting bit of 
iron to some museum I think in Jedburgh. 

MARY MACKELLAR. 



48 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



ORAN CEILIDH. 
LE MAIRI NIC-EALAIR. 



O seid a suas, a phiop nam buaclh, 

'S gu'n toir sinn cuairt air clannsa, 

Oir ged tha fuachd a' gheamhraidh cruaidh. 

Gu'm faigh sinn duais 'san t-samhradh. 

O cairich m6ine, a bhean ch>ir, 
Air cagailt mhoir gun ghainntir, 
'S bidh 'chuideachd 6g a' toirt le deoin 
Duinn orain a bhios seannsail. 

Gheibh sinn sgeul, air laoich na Feinn', 
'S mu dhaoine treun ar seorsa, 
'Ni 'sinn le cheile Ian do dh-eud, 
'Sa ni air euchd sinn deonach. 

Is gabhar leinn ar n' orain bhinn, 

Is cha bhi sinn fo anntlachd, 

'S mur cheileir seinn aig eoin a' ghlinn', 

Bidh 'ribhead ghrinn a' channtair. 

'S ged nach 'eil flxir, air gleann no stic, 
'S na h-eoin gun durd 's na cranntan, 
Is glasan iir gu daingean, dlu, 
A' ceangal lub gach alltain. 

Ged a tha gach gleann co fas, 
Is sneachda ban air beanntan, 
Thig fraoch fo bhlath, is coill fo bharr, 
A nuair thig blaths na Bealltuin. 

'S bidh eoin nan geug le coireal reidh, 
'Cur surd air seisdean bainnse, 
'S bidh torman ciuin le 'orain for', 
Aig sruthain dhlii nan ailtan. 

O biomaid. aoibhneach, cridheil, caoimhneil, 
Fad na h-oidhche gheamhraidh. 
Gun gh6, gun fhoill, mar eoin na coill, 
A' feitheamh soills' an t-samhraidh. 

Cuir tuille moine, a bhean ch6ir, 
Air cagailt mhoir gun ghainntir, 
Is bidh 'sinn comhla Ian do sholas, 
'S ni sinn ceol is clannsa. 



THE 

CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



CONDUCTED BY 



ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A., Scot. 



No. XCVIII. DECEMBER 1883. VOL. IX. 



THE HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 
By the EDITOR. 

XI. 

SIR EWEN CAMERON Continued. REMARKABLE INCIDENTS 
IN HIS EARLY CAREER. 

LOCHIEL having disposed of the enemy at the battle of Achada- 
lew, as described in our last, proceeded to count the number of 
his opponents slain, and found not less than one hundred and 
thirty-eight lying dead on the scene of the conflict, not a soul hav- 
ing escaped except the Irishman already mentioned, and another 
who subsequently became Lochiel's cook, and acted most loyally 
as his servant ever after. Lochiel having lodged the night after 
the battle in the house of a woman on Lochiel-side, whose son was 
among the few slain of Sir Ewen's followers, took his prisoner 
along with him, when the woman, taking into her head that the 
stranger, who accompanied Lochiel, was the man who had killed 
her handsome and brave son, immediately attacked him, and 
would have strangled him had not Sir Ewen interposed, separat- 
ing them, and sending his prisoner, under guard, to another 
house for the night. He found him ever after most zealous and 
trustworthy, ready to do anything his master required of him, 
often at the risk of his own life. The author of the Memoirs 

C 



50 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

relates two stories which well illustrates the difference between 
the ideas and tempers of the two classes of men the Highlanders 
and their English enemies. The courage of the Southrons, he says, 
was merely mechanical, flowing from discipline and habit, and serv- 
ing simply for their bread, while that of the Highlanders, was " from 
the notions they have of honour and loyalty, and of the services 
which they think they owe to their Chief, as the root of the family, 
and the common father and protector of the name. As this has 
something of greatness and generosity in the principle, so the 
actions flowing from it participate of the same spirit. Of this we 
have already had an illustrious example [in the case of Lochiel's 
foster-brother] ; and, indeed, the almost unparalelled bravery of 
the Camerons, during the terrible and extraordinary skirmish 
described, exemplify the same in a number of persons. Nor did 
it less appear in the generous emulation that inspirited them to 
exert the utmost efforts of their strength and courage before their 
young Chief. One of them having shot an arrow at too great a 
distance, and Lochiel observing that it did not pierce deep enough 
to kill the man, cried out that ' it came from a weak arm,' at 
which the Highlander thought himself so much offended that, 
despising all danger, he rushed among the thick of the enemy, 
and recovering his own arrow, plunged it into the man's body to 
the feathers. This action would have cost him his life if Lochiel 
had not quickly detached a party to his relief." The character 
of the English soldiery our author illustrates thus : " After 
their defeat, being hard put to it by the pursuing enemy, they 
plunged into the sea in hopes of recovering their ships. One of 
them, observing that a piece of beef and some small biscuits had 
dropped out of his pockets by the floating of the laps of his coat, 
he, preferring the recovery of his provisions to the safety of his 
life, fell a-fishing for them, and had his head divided into two 
parts by the blow of a broadsword as he was putting the first 
morsel of it into his mouth." Not one of them, however, called 
for quarter, and in the confusion of retreat not one parted 
with his arms, but with his life. " They were pitied more than 
blamed. They did all that men could do in the circumstances 
they were in. Not a single man of them betrayed the least 
cowardice, but fought it out with invincible obstinacy while any 
of them remained to make opposition, and their frequent attempts 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 51 

on the Chiefs life, even after quarters were offered, show that 
their fortitude and courage remained so firm to the last, that 
they disdained to be survivors of a defeat which they looked 
upon as shameful and ignominious. In short, they were not 
conquered, but destroyed." This proves that the Highlanders 
had a very sturdy enemy to deal with, apart altogether from the 
great inequality of numbers they had to contend against. 

Colonel Bryan, Governor of Inverlochy Castle, was quite 
oblivious of what was taking place within some three miles of 
his garrison, until a few of the workmen, who had fled from Ach- 
adalew, when the fight commenced, had reached the Castle ; but 
before the garrison could turn out the Irishman, already referred 
to arrived, and informed the Colonel that the whole of his party 
had been cut to pieces. The men in the other ship which during 
the engagement had been on the opposite shore, a little westward 
of Achadalew discovered that their friends had been engaged 
with the Camerons, and they thereupon sailed in the direction of the 
scene of carnage, but did not go ashore until Lochiel had retired 
with his men, when the English landed " and beheld the dismal 
fate of their countrymen, whose bodies they put on board the 
other empty vessel, which they hauled along with them to Inver- 
lochy." On their arrival they were met by the Governor and his 
officers, whose astonishment, upon seeing the dead bodies ex- 
posed, was inexpressible. Our author informs us that " the deep 
wounds and terrible slashes that appeared on these mangled car- 
cases seemed to be above the strength of man. Some had their 
heads cut down a good way into the neck ; others had them 
divided across by the mouth and nose ; many, who were struck 
upon the collar-bone, showed an orifice or gash much wider than 
that made by the blow of the heaviest hatchet ; and often the 
shearing blade, where the blow was full, and met with no extra- 
ordinary obstruction, penetrated so deep as to discover part of 
the entrails. There were some that had their bellies laid open, 
and others with their arms, thighs, and legs lopped off in an amaz- 
ing manner. Several bayonets were cut quite through, and 
mu.skets were pierced deeper than can be well imagined. The 
Governor and many of his officers had formerly occasion to see 
the Highlanders of several clans and countries, but they appeared 
to be no extraordinary men, neither in size nor strength. The 



52 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Camerons they had observed to be of a piece with the rest, and 
they wondered where Lochiel could find a sufficient body of men 
of strength and brawn to give such an odd variety of surprising 
wounds. But they did not know that there was as much art as 
strength in fetching these strokes, for, where a Highlander lays 
it on full, he draws it with great address the whole length of the 
blade, whereas an unskilful person takes in no more of it than 
the breadth of the place where he hits. He is likewise taught to 
wound with the point, or to fetch a back-stroke as occasion offers, 
and as in all these he knows how to exert his whole vigour and 
strength, so his blade is of such excellent temper and form as to 
answer all his purposes." This is how the terrible nature of the 
wounds were accounted for. When the actual facts regarding 
this sanguinary conflict became known, the conduct of the High- 
landers became the subject of admiration throughout the whole 
kingdom. " Lochiel was by all parties extolled to the skies as a 
young hero of boundless courage and extraordinary conduct. 
His presence of mind in delivering himself from his terrible 
English antagonist, who had so much the advantage of him in 
everything but vigour and courage, by biting out his throat, was 
in every person's mouth." The devoted self-sacrifice of his young 
foster-brother, to save the life of his Chief, was also the theme of 
admiration and astonishment among those unacquainted with 
the affection and devotion of the Highlanders to their chiefs, 
especially in the case of a foster-brother. 

Mrs Mary Mackellar, so well acquainted with the history and 
traditions of her native district of Lochaber, relates the following 
curious incident : Sir Ewen used to say that the only time he 
ever felt the sensation of fear was in connection with the incident 
of biting out the Englishman's throat in the ditch at Achadalew. 
"When at Court in London, many years after this, he went into 
a barber's shop to have his hair and beard dressed, and when the 
razor was at his throat the chatty barber observed " You are 
from the North, sir." " Yes," said Sir Ewen, "I am ; do you 
know people from the North?" "No," replied the irate barber, 
" nor do I wish to ; they are savages there. Would you believe 
it, sir ; one of them tore the throat out of my father with his 
teeth, and I only wish I had the fellow's throat as near me as I 
have yours just now." Sir Ewen's feelings may be more easily 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 53 

imagined than described as he heard these words and felt the 
edge of the steel gliding over the part so particularly threatened. 
He never after entered a barber's shop.* 

Almost immediately after the Achadalew affair, Lochiel 
resolved to join General Middleton, requesting those of his people 
who lived near Inverlochy to make peace with the Governor, who 
demanded no other terms than that they should live peaceably 
towards himself and his garrison. This agreement was soon 
arranged, and the people thereby secured from ruin during their 
leader's absence from the district. The Governor was put off his 
guard, and he began to send out parties for wood and other 
materials to strengthen his fortifications. Lochiel, however, was 
kept well informed of what was being done, and, returning to the 
district, he, one day, posted himself with a body of his most 
resolute followers, less than half-a-mile to the westward of the 
stronghold. He was not long here, when, the same morning, a 
body of two hundred men were sent out from the garrison in 
Lochiel's direction. On observing them he detached twenty of his 
men to a secret place to their rear between them and the 
garrison with orders to rush out and meet them in case 
they should retreat, as they naturally would, in that direction, 
after they were attacked in front by the Camerons. They 
marched in good order to the village of Achintore, when Sir 
Ewen and his band furiously rushed forward, scattering them 
in all directions ; for the memory of Achadalew was enough to 
strike terror into their hearts, when they were so suddenly and un- 
expectedly attacked by a force the strength of which they could 
not know. The men in ambush rushed out to meet the flying 
enemy, gave them a full charge of their firelocks in front, and 
then charged them with their broadswords, killing at least half 
their number. The remainder who escaped were pursued to the 
very walls of the fort, while many of them were taken prisoners 
and distributed among such of the Camerons as lived a consider- 
able distance from the Castle. 

Lochiel with his devoted and gallant band then returned 
northwards, and found General Middleton, by whom they were 
received with great demonstrations of delight and triumph. 
Nothing of importance took place for a considerable time after 

* "Guide to Fort-William, Glencoc, and Luchaber,'' p. 54. 



54 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

this. Lochiel was, however, constantly in action, daily becoming 
a greater terror to the enemy. Middleton was anxious to force 
on a battle, but his principal officers openly opposed him, and 
ultimately his army almost melted away. 

Meanwhile Lochiel received intimation that the Governor of 
Inverlochy was taking advantage of his absence, and, for the 
purpose of providing the garrison with an ample supply of fuel 
for the incoming winter, was cutting down a considerable portion 
of the Lochaber woods. Annoyed at these proceedings Sir 
Ewen asked and received permission from General Middleton 
to return home with about a hundred and fifty of his men, leaving 
the main body of his followers at head-quarters, to avenge the 
conduct of the Governor in stealing his wood. He started at 
night, marching by unfrequented paths through the mountains, 
and soon arrived in the neighbourhood of the English garrison 
without his movements having been discovered by the enemy, 
and he was soon informed by his friends of circumstances which 
enabled him successfully to execute his designs of revenge with- 
out any delay. 

The woods on which the English were employed were on 
the shoulder of Ben Nevis, about a mile eastward from the garri- 
son. Lochiel marched to this place, called Strone-Nevis, early 
next morning after his arrival, posted his men, and gave them 
the necessary instructions. He kept sixty of them under his 
own immediate command, placed in a tuft of wood at a point 
opposite where the soldiers sent out from the garrison, with the 
hewers of the wood, always took up their position. Two other 
bodies of thirty men each he told off to his right and left, respec- 
tively, in places where they were completely concealed, command- 
ing them to rush forth as soon as they heard the concerted signal, 
which was to be a great shout of " Advance, Advance !" as if the 
wood was full of men. The remainder of his men took up their 
position in a pass between the wood and the garrison, where they 
were to lay in ambush, and not to move unless they saw that the 
enemy were making a strong resistance when attacked by the 
Highlanders in front ; but if they noticed them running away 
they were to rush forward to meet them and place them between 
two fires, give them a volley in front, and then attack them with 
their swords, killing as many of them as they could, but giving 
quarter to any who threw down their arms. 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 55 

About four hundred of the English marched forth from the 
garrison, and took their usual position, quite innocent of the 
danger which immediately awaited them. Everything turned 
out as Lochiel anticipated, and a general slaughter at once 
ensued. The Highlanders, issuing forth from their places of 
concealment, made a great noise, which was loudly echoed by the 
surrounding mountains. This, accompanied by the simultaneous 
sounds of a great number of bagpipes, frightened the enemy so 
much that they made no resistance ; for they thought themselves 
surrounded by large bodies of Highlanders pouring in upon them 
from all sides, and they resolved that the best way to save them- 
selves was by flying at their highest speed. More than a hundred 
of the English were killed on the spot, and the remainder, having 
been attacked by those lying in ambush, between them and the 
garrison, a second slaughter at that point was the result. Not 
more than a third of the four hundred men escaped ; and these 
were pursued to the very walls of the fort, all in such a short 
time that it was matter of history before the Governor actually 
knew that his men had even been attacked. Not a single Eng- 
lish officer escaped, the reason being that they were the only 
persons who had the courage to offer any resistance to the High- 
landers. Among them was a great favourite of the Governor, 
who became so exasperated at the loss of his friend and that of 
his men that he was furious with rage, and swore immediate 
revenge upon Lochiel and his clan. 

For this purpose he next morning ordered out his whole 
garrison, consisting of about fifteen hundred men. Lochiel had, 
as usual, timely notice of his movements, and, betaking himself 
to stronger and higher ground, kept in view of the enemy, as he 
himself marched round the mountains with pipes playing and 
colours flying. He tried to induce the English commander to 
follow him and so get entangled in the woods or in the nar- 
row paths and other obstructions abounding in the neighbour- 
hood, where Lochiel could successfully attack, but the Governor 
was too wary. After traversing many difficult and rugged 
paths he returned, and by the help of good guides, found his way 
to the garrison, with all his men, but heartily fatigued and dis- 
gusted with his fruitless expedition. The Camerons, who closely 
followed, repeatedly insulted them, and whenever the nature of 



56 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

the ground favoured them, and they came inconveniently near, 
they invited them to " advance," for their Chief was there ready to 
receive their Governor, if he wished to speak to him ; and such 
other tantalising and insulting remarks. 

The name of the young Chief had now become such a terror 
that the men of the garrison were careful to give him as few oppor- 
tunities as possible of annoying them, though he occasionally 
managed to capture or kill small parties of them. Many amusing 
and curious adventures, in which he took the leading part, are still 
the talk of the District, and the following, recorded by his biogra- 
pher, is worth giving : " A good part of the revenue of his estate 
being paid in cattle, and commonly sold to drovers, who disposed 
of them to others in Lowland markets, he employed a subtle 
fellow, who haunted the garrison, to whisper it adroitly among 
the soldiers, that a drove belonging to him was on a certain 
day to pass that way, and that, Lochiel himself being now re- 
turned to General Middleton, it might easily be made a prize of. 
The fellow managed it so that it came to the Governor's ears, 
who gave private orders to seize the cattle. Against the day 
prefixed, Lochiel ordered some cows with their calves to be 
driven with seeming caution and privacy to a place at a proper 
distance from Inverlochy ; but before they came there the calves 
were taken from their mothers, and driven separately a short way 
before them, though always in their sight. This, as it gave 
from a distance the appearance of two droves, occasioned a reci- 
procal lowing and bellowing, which, being reverberated by the 
adjacent hills and rocks, made a very great noise. The soldiers 
were quickly alarmed, and ran, without observing much order, as 
to a certain prey ; but Lochiel, who lurked with his party in a bush 
of wood nearby, rushing suddenly upon them, with loud cries, had 
the killing of them all' the way to the garrison." The Governor 
became so enraged at the frequent tricks played upon himself and 
upon his men by Lochiel that he set such a close watch on him 
that he narrowly escaped being killed or captured on repeated 
occasions soon after. A few of these hairbreadth escapes, and 
how he finally arranged favourable and highly honourable terms 
with the Governor of Inverlochy, will be detailed in our next. 

(To be continued,) 



57 
A TALE OF THE STRATHNAVER CLEARANCES. 



MY great-grandfather, Roderick Mackay, rented the fertile farm 
of Mudale, at the head of Strathnaver. It was a beautiful spot 
by the side of the river, and the home was endeared to my an- 
cestor by its being the place where his father and father's fathers 
had lived and died for generations. The house was comfortable 
and substantial, and it was famed far and near for its hospitality; 
no stranger having ever been turned from its door without having 
his wants supplied. Nor did this kindness overtax them, for 
they had food in abundance. They had flocks and herds, and 
lived in ease and comfort. 

It used to be told of him that, instead of a regular stock- 
taking, he once a year gathered his sheep, cattle, and horses into 
a curve of the river, and, if the place was anything well filled, he 
was content that he had about the usual number, and did not 
trouble about figures. He went with his surplus stock occasionally 
to the southern markets, and was entrusted with buying and 
selling for his neighbours as well not on the "commission 
agent " system of the present day, but as an act of goodwill and 
friendship. 

My great-grandmother was a " help-meet " in all things to 
her husband. They had one son and two daughters, the youngest 
of whom was my grandmother. They were honest, God-fearing 
people, loved and respected by all who knew them, and leading 
a life of peace and contentment, expecting to end their lives 
among their friends, in their dear home, as their forefathers 
had done. A small cloud, not bigger than a man's hand, was 
hanging, alas ! over Strathnaver. Practical men from other lands 
were scouring hill and dale, and casting covetous eyes upon the 
beautiful and fertile valley, while accepting the hospitality of the 
noble people whose destruction they were planning. The small 
cloud spread with frightful rapidity, and a storm burst over 
Strathnaver that laid happy homes in ruins, extinguishing the 
light of joy for evermore in hundreds of human hearts. My 
great-grandfather, being a rather extensive landholder, was the 
first to suffer, and his death-warrant could not have caused him 



58 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

greater dismay than the notice to quit his home. His flocks were 
scattered, and had to be sold for whatever they could realise. 
His house the home of his ancestors was burned before his 
eyes. His effects were turned out to the roadside, and his wife 
and family left without shelter. By permission of the incoming 
tenant they were allowed to take possession of a small sheep-cot 
near their former happy home. My great-grandmother, a brave 
woman, did all she could to cheer her husband in his sorrow, and 
the son strove to save all he could from the wreck, but the old 
man would not be comforted. He went about in a dazed condi- 
tion, which was most pitiful. He would neither eat nor drink, 
and continually asked if they thought he would get leave to be 
buried in Mudale, beside his people. Nothing could rally him, 
and in a short time he died. His wife then broke down com- 
pletely, and did not survive him long. They both died in that 
small sheep-cot, or as I used to hear my grand-aunt, their 
daughter, put it, " Ann am bothan fail." They got their wish as 
to their last resting-place, for they sleep in peace with those who 
went before them, ere the inhuman laws of men made that beauti- 
ful valley what it now is a wilderness. 

My grandfather, Ian Ban Mackay, lived in Rhiphail, about 
twelve miles further down the glen, and he also, like the rest of 
his kith and kin, was doomed. He had served in the Reay 
Fencibles, and for his good conduct was made confidential ser- 
vant to the Colonel of the regiment, who was himself a Mackay. 
When my grandfather was evicted my mother was twelve years 
of age, and she vividly remembered the incidents as long as she 
lived. The family were shifted from one place to another, until 
in two years they had no less than five removals. Ever as they 
went the black flood of eviction followed them, until at last they 
landed, or stranded rather, on the stony braes of Tongue. There 
they had to build some kind of abode and subsist as best they 
could. Their eight milk cows had dwindled down to one ; for 
they had to part with them from time to time to obtain the bare 
necessaries of life. 

A short time after their settlement at Tongue the potato 
crop failed, and the grain crops as well, when the ever-to-be 
remembered famine set in with all its horrors. The disasters and 
miseries of that time have been described bv several foremost 



STRATHNAVER CLEARANCES. 59 

among them the great Hugh Miller. I only relate what con- 
cerned my own immediate relations, as I often heard it told, 
amidst tears, at our own fireside. My grandfather found it hard 
to provide for his family in these times, and at last it became 
impossible. It was reported that relief came, and that at Tongue 
House, a mile distant, there was food enough for all who required 
it. My grandfather was urged to go to the factor for assist- 
ance, but he was a Mackay and a soldier, and the bread of charity 
was to him a bitter morsel. One morning, however, things came 
to a crisis the last spoonful of meal had been made into gruel 
for a sick child, the last fowl was killed and cooked for the 
family, and starvation stared them in the face. 

My grandfather had then no alternative but to go to Tongue 
House. He found, however, that the corn there had more re- 
strictions than that of Egypt. He found the factor did not 
believe in giving charity in a charitable manner. He was severely 
examined as to his character and conduct, as to his present 
ability or future prospects of paying for the meal. If he could 
not pay it then, the factor demanded a guarantee that he would 
pay it in future. At last he consented to give one boll of 
meal to my grandfather, and in exchange he was to get the one 
milk cow of the family. The cow was named " Shobhrag " or 
" Primrose," from her yellow colour. Owing to the scarcity of 
food, she had to be milked many times in the day, and so one of 
the children, a precocious little girl of seven, called her " Shobhrag 
nam beannachd " (the Primrose of blessings). The name stuck 
to her, for she was dearly beloved by the family. She was a gentle 
creature, who did not run away or get into trouble like other cows; 
and she was petted and made of by the children, whilst to the 
parents she was the one link that bound them to happier times. 
No wonder if the father's heart was heavy as he thought of his 
sad bargain, and wondered how he could break the news to the 
family. On his way home he met the Rev. Hugh Mackenzie, 
minister of the parish, who, on hearing the sad story, went and 
paid for the meal, and so " Shobhrag " was spared to them in their 
grief. Mr Mackenzie sent also seed corn and potatoes, and gave 
his own horses to plough their land, while he personally attended 
the family when afterwards stricken with fever the sure concomi- 
tant of famine. Every member of the family hovered for a time 



60 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

between life and death. The good clergyman supplied wine and 
other articles of nourishment, and gave medicine, of which he had 
considerable knowledge. There did not seem much to live for ; 
but then, as now, people were tenacious of life, and in course of 
time the family recovered. Better times came ; but too late for 
the head of the house ; he never recovered from the shock of his 
severe trials, and he died a comparatively young man. 

I remember my grandmother, a sadly depressed woman, 
with a world of sorrow in her faded blue eyes, as if the shadow of 
the past was always upon her spirit. I never saw her smile, and 
when I asked my mother for the cause, she told me that that 
look of pain came upon my grandmother's face with the fires of 
Strathnaver. Strange to say, when even my mother was in her 
last illness in May 1882 when the present was fading from her 
memory she appeared again as a girl of twelve in Strathnaver, 
continually asking, " Whose house is burning now ?" and crying 
out, now and again, " Save the people." 

Edinburgh. ANNIE MACKAY. 



SUTHERLAND EVICTIONS AND BURNINGS. 
TESTIMONY OF LIVING EYE-WITNESSES. 



MR JOHN MACKAY, C.E., Hereford, the well-known friend of the 
Highlanders, himself a native of Sutherlandshire, sends us the sub- 
joined important documents. He writes in the following terms : 
" While at Bettyhill in August last, during the sitting there of 
the Royal Commission, I had the pleasure of meeting several old 
men in the neighbourhood. On entering into conversation with 
them, upon the subject of the Strathnaver Clearances, I found 
their recollection of them so vivid, and their relations so truthful 
none of them would say anything more than he himself saw 
that I thought it was worth something to have them taken down 
there and then ; but not having sufficient time at my disposal, 
and being informed that there were many more in the parish who 
had been eye-witnesses of those scenes, I got Mr Angus Mackay, 
Divinity Student, Farr, to take down the evidence for me, and 
have it attested." The statements, in all cases, were carefully 



SUTHERLAND EVICTIONS. 61 

taken clown in Gaelic, translated into English, read to the de- 
clarant again in Gaelic and English in the presence of the wit- 
nesses who attest them, and who understood both languages ; the 
statements were then signed by the cross or name of each declar- 
ant in presence of the witnesses, who there and then attested each 
document on the date recorded upon it, in presence of the declar- 
ant. Mr Mackay has since presented them to the Royal Com- 
mission as part of his evidence in Edinburgh. They are as 
follows : 

RODERICK MACLEOD, 78 years of age, crofter and fisherman, Skerray, 
Parish of Tongue, 

I was born at Grumb-mhor, where I lived for eight years, and now occupy a small 
croft near the edge of the cliffs at Skerray. I was working at a read that was being 
made on Strathnaver, a good few years after I was driven from the Strath myself, 
when I saw the following townships set on fire : 

Grumb-mhor, with 1 6 houses. | Achmhillidh, with 4 houses. 

All the houses in these two places were burnt, with the exception of one barn, which 
was left to be used as a store by those working at the road. 

I recollect of Branders, who had the charge of Sellar's burning gang, coming to 
one house there, where an old woman and her daughter-in-law lived. The woman 
was very old and frail, and had nowhere to go at such a short notice. Branders, 
therefore, as Sellar himself was not present to see, taking compassion on her, gave her 
permission to remain for a night or two longer in the house, until she could get some 
bothy beyond Sellar's satrapy, where she would be at liberty to live or die. 

Few, if any, of all those families burnt out knew where to turn their head, or from 
whom or where to get the next meal, after being thus expatriated from the homes to 
which their hearts so fondly clung. 

It was sad to witness the heartrending scenes that followed the driving away of 
these people. The terrible remembrance of the burnings of Strathnaver will live as 
long as a root of the people remains in the country. Th<i people when on Strathnaver 
were very comfortable. 

I declare this statement of mine is true. RORY MACLEOD. 

Witnesses, \ WILLIAM SUTHERLAND. 
30th Aug. 1883. \ MURDO MACKAY. 

WILLIAM MORRISON, 89 years of age, crofter, Dalacham, Farr. 
I was born at Rossal, on Strathnaver, and remember well of seeing the following 
townships on fire : 

Rossal, with about 20 houses. Dalvina, with 2 houses. 

Dalmalarn, with 2 houses. Achphris, with 2 houses. 

The people as a rule were, in these townships, expected to be away from their houses 
before those employed in burning came round. This was generally done, but in a 
certain house in Rossal there lived an old woman who could not remove with the rest 
of the neighbours. She could not build another house were she to remove. To this 
poor person's house came the cruel burners in their turn, and set fire to it in two 
places, heeding not her pitiful cries. The burners, however, treated her kinder than 



62 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

was their wont, for they carried her out of the burning house, and placed her on the 
grass with some of her own blankets about her. 

I cannot say what became of her afterwards, but surely it was cruel enough that 
she should be thus left exposed to wind and weather, deprived of all shelter and desti- 
tute of all means. For people to say that there was no cruelty or harshness shown the 
people when they were burnt off Strathnaver, is a glaring lie which no amount of 
flowery language can hide. Sellar's son can, no doubt, wield the pen well, but he 
will find he has undertaken an impossibility when he tries to prove that his father was 
a good man. Most assuredly he was a cruel tyrant. 

I declare this statement of mine is true. WILLIAM MORRISON. 

Witnesses, ( DONALD MACKENZIE, Minister, Free Church, Farr. 
2$th Aug. 1883. j ANGUS MACKAY, Divinity Student, Farr. 

GRACE MACDONALD, 88 years of age, Armadale, Farr. 

I was born on Strathnaver, in a place called Langall, and was nineteen years of 
age when we were evicted from the Strath I remember well the burning of the 
house;>. I saw the following five townships burnt by Sellar's party : 

Langall, with 8 houses. Ealan & Challaidh, with 2 houses. 

Totachan, with 2 houses. Sgall, with 4 houses. 

Coile an Kian, with 2 houses. 

There was no mercy or pity shown to young or old all had to clear away, and those 
who could not get their effects removed in time to a safe distance had it burnt before 
their very eyes. 

On one occasion, while Sellar's burning party were engaged in setting fire to a 
certain house in Langall, a cat belonging to the premises leapt out of the flames. Some 
one of the party seized the half-smothered cat and threw him back into the flames, 
where it was kept till it perished. 

The evicted people had to go down to the bleak land skirting the sea-shore, and 
there trench and reclaim land for themselves. 

They got no compensation or help from the proprietor, and some of them suffered 
very much from want of food the first winter. They were happy on Strathnaver, with 
plenty to take and give, but are all very poor now. 

The unsatiable greed of Sellar was the cause of all this. 

I declare this statement of mine is true. GRACE MACDONALD. 

Witnesses, ( MURDO MACKAY. 
29th Aug. 1883 ( MARY MACLEOD.. 

Widow BETSY MACKAY (Drover), 86 years of age, Kirtomy, Parish of Farr. 

I am a native of Strathnaver, and saw some of the burnings that took place there. 
I was born at Sgall, a township with six houses, where I lived till I was sixteen years 
of age, when the people in the township were driven away and their houses burnt. 

Our family was very reluctant to leave this place, and stayed for some time after 
the summons for evicting was delivered. But Sellar's party came round and set fire 
to our house at both ends, reducing to ashes whatever remained within the walls. The 
occupants had, of course, to escape for their lives, some of them losing all their clothes 
except what they had on their backs. The people then had plenty clothes (home 
spun), which they made from the wool of their sheep. 

The people were told they could go where they liked, provided they did not en- 
cumber Sellar's domain, the land that was by rights their own. The people were 
driven away like dogs who deserved no better fate, and that, too, without any reason 
in the world, but to satisfy the cruel avarice of Sellar. 



SUTHERLAND EVICTIONS. 63 

Here is an incident that I remember in connection with the burning of Sgall. 
My sister, whose husband was from home, was delivered of a child at Grumb-mhor 
at this time. Her friends in Sgall, fearing lest her house should be burnt, and she 
perish in her helpless condition, went to Grumb-mhor and took her with them in very 
cold weather, weak and feeble as she was. This sudden removal occasioned to her a 
fever, which left its effects upon her till her dying day. 

I declare this statement of mine is true. BETSY MACKAY. 

Witnesses, \ ALEXANDER MACKAY. 

29th Aug. 1883. \ MURDO MACKAY. 

WIDOW DAVID MUNRO, Strathy, regarding Ceann-na-Coille 
I was seven years of age when this portion of Strathnaver was cleared. There 
were six families in the township: Hugh Mackay, J. Campbell, Angus Mackay, John 
Mackay (Macrob), William Mackay. and my father, William Sutherland. I remember 
distinctly the position of the houses. Our family consisted of six girls and one boy. 
We received orders to quit our abode on term day. All the men of the village were 
away except my father, who had removed his furniture to an out-house before Sellar 
arrived. He was an intelligent man, sometimes acting as teacher, and when the com- 
pany arrived to set fire to the house, he requested that, in consideration of his services 
to the House of Sutherland, by going with the rents of the townships to Dunrobin, 
etc., etc., they would be good enough to spare the out-house, whither he might retire 
during the night ; and that he himself would set fire to it next morning. This was 
ruthlessly refused, and we had to remain all night on a green hillock outside, and 
view our dwelling smouldering into ashes. 

I declare this statement of mine is true. MRS DAVID MUNRO. 

Witnesses, \ ADAM GUNN. 
i8th Aug. 1883. | ALEX. MUNRO, Strathy West. 

BELL COOPER, 82 years of age, Crask, Farr. 

I was born at Achness on Strathnaver, where I lived till I was eleven years of 
age. All the people in the township were then removed and their houses burnt. 
Our family had to leave with the rest, but we were allowed to build a house on the 
other side .of the river, at a place called Riloisgt. Here we were allowed to live for five 
more years, and then were evicted a second time. 

During these five years Sellar was busily engaged working out the desolation of 
the east side of the Strath, and I was an eye witness of the burning of all the houses 
between Rossal and Achcaoilnaborgin. I cannot say how many houses there were 
in the district between these two places, but I saw them all burnt myself. I am sure 
there would be between two and three score at the least. 

The west side was left unmolested, while the east side was being burnt, as Sellar 
was unable to stock both sides of the Strath at once. By the end of these five years 
he grew richer, and was able to manage both sides. Accordingly, he came again 
with his burning gang and commenced the destruction of the west side of the Strath. 
This he succeeded in doing, and the house in which I lived with my father was the 
first set on fire. 

For some days after the people were turned out, one could scarcely hear a word 
with the lowing of cattle and the screaming of children marching off in all directions. 
Sellar burnt everything he could lay his hands upon in some cases the very hens in 
the byres were burnt. I shall never forget that awful day. 

I declare this statement of mine is true. BELL COOPER. 

MURDO MACKAY ' Student " 



64 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

GEORGE MACDONALD, 84 years of age, crofter and mason, Airdneskich, Farr. 

I was born in Rossal on Strathnaver, and was about fifteen years of age when 
that township was burnt. Every house was burnt to the ground. I cannot remem- 
ber the number of houses in Rossal, but I would say there were about twenty. There 
were four other townships near this, each with abo>ut the same number of houses, all 
of which were burnt on the same day ; but I remember of seeing none of these houses 
actually on fire except one, for I was away driving the cattle at the time, though I 
saw the burnt ruins a few days after. 

The house which I saw set on fire was that of one Chisholm, who lived in Badin- 
loskin. Sellar and his party approached this house and told Chisholm that, if he 
would not make off with his family and all that belonged to him, they would soon 
give them a hot bed. Chisholm refused to leave, and Sellar himself, who was pre- 
sent at this instance, urged his followers to help him in putting the house on fire. 
His orders were immediately obeyed, and in a few minutes the house was all ablaze. 
Chisholm's mother-in-law, a very old woman, was confined to bed through infirmity, 
and was unable to leave the burning house along with the other inmates. Although 
Sellar and his men well knew that she could not move, they took no notice of the 
poor wretch, and had not some of her own friends rushed in and rescued her, when 
already the bed-clothes were on fire about her, she would have certainly perished on 
the spot. The woman never thoroughly recovered, and a few days thereafter died 
from the effects of the fire and the fright she took. My father, when his own house 
was set on fire, tried to save a few pieces of wood out of the burning house, which he 
carried to the river, about half-a-mile away, and there formed a raft of it. His inten- 
tion was to float the wood down the stream, and build a kind of a hut somewhere to 
shelter his weak family ; but Sellar's party came the way, and, seeing the timber, set 
fire to it, and soon reduced the whole to ashes. 

When the people came down from the Strath to the sea-shore, where their de- 
scendants are living now, they suffered very much the first winter from the want of 
houses. They hurriedly threw up earthen walls, stretching blankets over the top to 
shelter them, and, cooped up in a small place like this, four or five families spent the 
following winter. No compensation was given for the houses that were burnt, neither 
any help to build new ones. Having brought with them large flocks of cattle, and 
there being no food for them, they almost all died the first winter. Strathnaver was 
not all cleared the same year, but the people were burnt out from year to year, just 
as Sellar was able to take and stock the places first the east side of the Strath, and 
then the west side. Some people were removed three or four times, always forced 
farther down, until at last the sea-shore prevented them from being sent any farther, 
unless they took ship for the Colonies, which many of them did. I was a neighbour 
of Donald Macleod, who wrote a book on the Strathnaver Clearances, and can con- 
scientiously say that he was a truthful and honest man. His book, I am sure, con- 
tains the truth, having read some of it myself, most of which I could substantiate. 

I declare this statement of mine is true GEORGE MACDONALD. 

w> I DONALD MACKENZIE, Minister, Free Church, Farr. 

!, A iR* ' DONALD M 'DONALD, Aird. 

OOJl ( ANGUS MACKAY, Divinity Student, Cattlefield, Farr. 

(To be continued.) 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 
BY ALEXANDER MACBAIN, M.A. 



VIII. BRITISH RELIGION (Continued.) 

WE have thus discovered in Don and his children the powers 
of sky and air, answering to Jove and his Olympians of Classical 
Mythology; in Nudd and his son Gwynn we have probably 
found the powers that rule over the land of "shades," correspond- 
ing to Pluto or Dis ; and we now come to consider the third 
family of British deities, Lir and his children, whom we shall 
find to be the British and Gaelic equivalents of Neptune, the sea- 
god, and Aphrodite, "daughter of the foam." Lir, or as the 
Welsh spell the name, Llyr, is the same as the Gaelic tear, found 
in the Ossianic poems, and signifying the " sea." Lir is there- 
fore the personification of the sea the sea deified. He is a deity 
common to both Britons and Gaels ; indeed, it may rather be 
said that he is more properly a deity of the Gaels transferred 
into the British pantheon. The epithet Llediaith, or "half- 
speech," that is, " dialect," which is attached to his name, goes to 
show that he was not a deity of native British origin. We are 
therefore justified in considering Lir as the sea deity of the 
ancient remnant of the Gaels still surviving and maintaining 
their ground in Wales in the fifth century, and represented as 
then expelled by Cunedda and his sons. They were, however, 
more probably slowly absorbed by the Welsh, who were then 
pressed westwards by the Saxons. All the legends preserved in 
Welsh, connected with Lir and his family, point to a strong 
Gaelic influence, if not to a Gaelic origin. Of Lir himself no- 
thing is said in the Welsh legends beyond his being the father of 
so many children ; in Ireland he is represented as striving for 
the sovereignty of the Tuatha-De-Dannan, the Gaelic gods, with 
Bove Derg, son of the Dagda, and, when defeated in his aspira- 
tions, as retiring to Sidh-Fionnachaidh. Here he leads the life 
of a provincial chief, and all else that we know of him is the 
cruel transformation of his four children by their wicked aunt 
and stepmother. Lir has also another name ; at least he must 
have had another name, or else Mannanan, his son, and Cordelia, 
his daughter, must each have had two fathers. In some tradi- 

D 



66 . THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

tions they are both represented as the children of Llud. The 
same confusion, of course, appears in the Irish genealogy of Man- 
nanan ; for the most part he is known as the son of Lir, but in 
the genealogies he is set down as the son of Alloid, doubtless the 
original, or, at least, the equivalent of Llud. Professor Rhys 
thinks that Llud stands for Nudd, the N changing into LI, be- 
cause Llud also received the title of Llaw Ereint, "silver- 
handed," just as the Irish King Nuada did ; and the principle of 
alliteration required the changing of Nudd Llaw Ereint into 
Llud Llaw Ereint. And Nudd, besides, was somehow a god of 
the sea ; what was the necessity of two chief sea-gods ? We 
have interpreted Nudd as a god of the " land under the waves," 
and not as the sea-god proper ; and, again, the Irish Alloid is 
distinctly against any such change of letters as Nudd into Llud, 
besides its being otherwise far from probable that such a change 
should occur on any principle of alliteration. Lir, under the 
name of Llud, is, in the histories and tales, the brother of Cassi- 
belaunus, Caesar's opponent, and in his reign Britain was 
troubled with three direful plagues : the Coranians, a people 
" whose knowledge was such that there was no discourse upon 
the face of the Island, however it might be spoken, but what, if 
the wind blew it, it was known to them ; " second, a shriek that 
occurred every May eve, that created all kinds of terrors and 
horrors ; and, third, the king's winter provisions disappeared 
every year when stored. From these plagues the wisdom of his 
brother Llevelys freed King Llud. Lir appears in the pages of 
Geoffrey of Monmouth as an old British king, who reigned long 
before Llud, and who had three daughters, whose story forms 
the groundwork of Shakespeare's tragedy of King Lear. 

Mannanan, the son of Lir, is in the Welsh Myths one of the 
seven that mystical number, so common in the old Welsh 
poems who escaped from Ireland on the death of his brother, 
Bran, the blessed, king of Britain. Returning with the head of 
Bran, the seven heroes found the throne usurped by Cassibel- 
aunus and retired to Harlech, where the birds of Rhiannon kept 
them enchanted by their music for seven years ; and after this 
they feasted for eighty years more at Gwales in Penvro, from 
which place they set out to London and buried Bran's head 
with its face to France. As long as Bran's head was left there 
facing France no invasion of Britain could be successful. Un- 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 67 

fortunately Arthur exhumed the head, declaring that he would 
maintain the country against any foe without need of super- 
natural safeguard. In his subsequent career Mannanan is seen 
to be a deity who presides over arts and commerce, a god who 
is " deep in counsel." He and another of the mythic seven 
wander about doing artificers' work ; he successively tries saddle- 
making, shoemaking, and shieldmaking, trades in which he 
out-distances all competitors as a matter of course. From the 
Irish accounts of him, Mannanan Mac Lir, appears to be a god of 
sea and wind. Cormac, Archbishop of Cashel, of the ninth 
century, describes him in his glossary like a true Euhemerist, as 
" Manannan mac lir, a renowned trader who dwelt in the Is- 
land of Man. He was the best pilot in the west of Europe. 
Through acquaintance with the sky he knew the quarter in 
which would be fair weather and foul weather, and when each of 
these two seasons would change. Hence the Scots and Britons 
called him a god of the sea, and hence they said he was son of 
the sea, that is, mac lir, ' son of the sea.' " Mannanan is other- 
wise represented as one of the Tuatha-De-Dannan chiefs. He 
was the possessor of that wonderful steed mentioned in the story 
of the " Children of Tuireann." Luga of the Long Arms " rode 
the steed of Mannanan Mac Lir, namely Enbarr of the Flowing 
Mane : no warrior was ever killed on the back of this steed, for 
she was as swift as the cold clear wind of spring, and she 
travelled with equal ease on land and on sea. He wore Man- 
nanan's coat of mail ; no one could be wounded through it, or 
above it or below it. He had on his breast Mannanan's breast- 
plate, which no weapon could pierce. Mannanan's sword, The 
Answerer, hung at his left side ; no one ever recovered from its 
wound ; and those who were opposed to it in the battle-field 
were so terrified by looking at it that their strength left them 
and they became weaker than women." In the curious story 
called the " Sick-bed of Cuchulainn," Mannanan is represented 
as a fairy chief who deserts his fairy bride Fand, but Fand is 
helped and loved by Cuchulainn, mortal though he was. Man- 
nanan on discovering this, returns to his wife and shakes his magic 
cloak between her and Cuchulainn, so that they should never 
meet again. This magic cloak had also the effect of producing 
forgetfulness of the past. Of Mannanan, Mr Elton says: "In 
him we see personified the splendour and swiftness of the sun ; 



68 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

the god rushes over the waves like a ' wheel of fire ' and his 
three-legged shape recalls the giant strides of Vishnu. He was 
the patron of traffic and merchandise. The best weapons and 
jewels from across the sea were, thought to be gifts from the god." 
Branwen, " white-bosom," the daughter of Lir, is the central 
figure of the most tragic of Welsh myths. She is married to 
Matholwch, King of Ireland, who treats her badly. Her brother 
Bran, coming to know of it, invades Ireland. The Irish yield, 
and build a house big enough for Bran to enter into, a thing he 
never hitherto could get, so enormous was his size. But the Irish 
had decided to murder their guests at the first feast in the great 
house. The cleverness of one of Bran's men foils their purpose ; 
there is, however, a general slaughter, in which the Irish have at 
first the best of it, for they possess a cauldron, into which, when 
any one is dipped that is dead, he comes to life hale and sound. 
But the cauldron is discovered by the already-mentioned one of 
Bran's men, and he breaks it. Bran is killed, and only seven re- 
turn of his people to Wales. The story as a whole is a very 
widely-spread one ; it appears in about a dozen forms in Teutonic 
lands the Volsung Saga and the Nibelung story being the most 
famous forms of it. Probably there are in the myth the evidences 
of a time when Celt and Teuton lived not too amicably together 
on the banks of the Rhine, a supposition which would obviate the 
necessity of supposing the Celtic version a borrowed one, inferior 
though it may be in some details. Another legend represents 
Branwen or Brangwaine as helping the loves, illicit though they 
be, of Tristram and Iseult. It is she that hands to Tristram 
the fateful love-potion which binds him irrevocably to Iseult. 
Hence Mr Elton considers her the Venus of the Northern Seas. 
Indeed, the sea was poetically named " the fountain of Venus," 
according to the lolo MSS.; and a verse in the " Black Book of 
Carmarthen " gives this stanza : 

' ' Accursed be the damsel 
Who, after the wailing, 
Let loose the Fountain of Venus, the raging deep." 

From this we can easily understand how Branwen may be Venus 
and daughter of the sea-god as well, ju.st as Aphrodite was sprung 
from the foam of the sea. Cordelia, another daughter of Lear 
or Llud, has already been mentioned as the resplendent summer 
goddess for whom the powers of air and the shades fight every 
May-day till the day of doom, 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 69 

In the remarkable Mabinogion entitled " Kilhvvch and Olvven," 
so full of mythologic lore, we can see the true character of at 
least one of Arthur's knights. This is his seneschal Kai. From 
the references in this mythic tale, it could alone be proved that 
Kai was no less than the British Vulcan, the fire-god. " Kai," 
says the tale, " had this peculiarity, that his breath lasted nine 
nights and nine days under water, and he could exist nine days 
and nine nights without sleep. A wound from Kai's sword no 
physician could heal. Very subtle was Kai. When it pleased 
him he could render himself as tall as the highest tree in the forest. 
And he had another peculiarity : so great was the heat of his 
nature that when it rained hardest, whatever he carried remained 
dry for a handbreadth above and a handbreadth below his hand ; 
and when his companions were coldest he was to them as fuel 
with which to light their fire." Such was Arthur's steward ! 
Hephaestus and Vulcan do equally mean duties in the halls of 
Olympus. The gods laugh heartily at the limping gait and un- 
gainly appearance of Hephaestus as he hands round the cup of 
nectar. So is Kai often the butt of Arthur's knights. Another 
of Arthur's knights may be mentioned as probably .a degraded 
war deity. Owain, the son of Urien Rheged, is never mentioned 
in the older poems and tales without reference to his army of 
ravens, " which rose as he waved his wand, and swept men into 
the air and dropped them piecemeal on the ground." We are 
here reminded of the Irish war goddess who so often appears as, 
and is indeed named, the "scald-crow" (Badb}. Odin, too, has 
his ravens to consult with, and to act as his messengers. Many 
others of Arthur's heroes partake of the same mythical type ; 
of Arthur himself we shall speak again in considering the Celtic 
hero-tales. At present, it is sufficient to say that Arthur is, at 
least, as mythical as any of the rest we have mentioned. 

Nor must we overlook Caridwen, who is considered, even by 
the Welsh themselves, their goddess of nature. She is possessed 
of a cauldron of " inspiration and science," which, as Mr Nutt 
points out, may be regarded as a symbol of the reproductive 
power of the earth. It is doubtless this same cauldron that has 
appeared in the story of Branwen the daughter of Lir : when the 
dead heroes were plunged into it they were resuscitated. The 
Tuatha-De-Dannan were possessed in Scythia of a similar 
cauldron, similarly employed. Caridwen, the tale says, set her 



70 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

cauldron to boil, and placed Gwion Bach, the dwarf, and the 
blind Morda to watch it, charging them not to suffer it to cease 
boiling for a year and a day. Towards the end of the year, 
three drops of the boiling liquor spluttered out upon the hand of 
Gwion, and suddenly putting his hand in his mouth because of 
the heat, the future and present were revealed to him. The cauld- 
ron burst, the fairy returned, and Gwion had to run for his life. 
Pursued at once by Caridwen, he changed himself into a hare and 
fled. But she changed herself into a greyhound and turned him. 
And he ran towards the river and became a fish ; she took the 
form of an otter and gave chase. He then became a bird, and 
she a hawk, and as she was swooping down upon him he fell 
among a heap of wheat and became one of the grains. She, 
however, became a high-crested black hen, scratched the heap, 
found him, and swallowed him. He was thereafter born as a 
beautiful boy, whom Caridwen had not the heart to kill. She 
put him in a leather sack, and cast him into the sea. Being 
washed ashore, he was discovered, and brought to Prince Elphin, 
to whom he immediately, child though he was, began to sing 
most elegant poetry. This youthful poet was none else than 
Taliesin, " prince of song, and the chief of the bards of the west." 
The poems ascribed to Taliesin have been called the romance of 
metempsychosis. " The Druidical doctrine of the transmigration 
of souls is thought to be hidden in the poet's account of his 
wonderful transformations." A specimen or two out of many 
such may be quoted. 

" I have been in a multitude of shapes, 
Before I assumed a consistent form, 
I have been a sword narrow, variegated, 
I have been a tear in the air ; 
I have been the dullest of stars, 
I have been a word among letters, 
[ have been a book in the origin." 

And again 

" I have been a sow, I have been a buck, 
I have been a sage, I have been a snout, 
I have been a horn, I have been a wild sow, 
I have been a shout in battle." 

Evidently there is in these poems of Taliesin the broken-down 
remembrance of the old Druidic cult. True enough the poet 
does show a wonderful and suspicious acquaintance with the 
" Metamorphoses" of Ovid and his account of Pythagorean doc- 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 71 

trines, as he also does with even Irish mythology, for he speaks 
of his place in S. Caer Sidi, doubtless the Irish Side, thus 

" Complete is my chair in Caer Sidi, 

No one will be afflicted with disease or old age that may be in it." 

Yet for all this, for all his mingling of Greek, Roman, and 
Jewish history and myth, we may believe that there is at 
bottom a germ of genuine Druidic influence, and of genuine 
Welsh myth. As a matter of fact, the tale of the cauldron 
appears in the history of the Gaelic counterpart of Taliesin 
in the closing scenes of Ossian's career, and not at the 
beginning, as in Taliesin's case. Ossian, old and blind, 
tried to recover his youth by magical means. He now lived 
among little men who could not give him food enough, and 
consequently he had a belt round his waist with three skewers 
dealg- -in it to tighten his stomach. He went out one day with his 
gillie to hunt, and by some supernatural means brought down 
three remarkable deer. These he took home and put in a cauld- 
ron to be cooked, bidding his gillie watch them, and on no 
account to taste any of the food. All went right for a time ; the 
deer were cooked ; Ossian ate the first and let out one skewer ; 
he ate a second and let out a second skewer ; but as misfortune 
would have it, while the third deer was simmering in the cauld- 
ron a drop of the broth spurted out on the gillie's hand, which he 
instantly put into his mouth. Ossian ate the third deer and let 
out the third skewer, but no youth returned to him. The licking 
of the little drop of broth had broken the spell. The super- 
natural knowledge and power gained by Gwion Bach do not, of 
course, appear in this tale, but it may be observed that Finn 
gained his knowledge of futurity in a manner which, though dis- 
similar in details, is yet the same in result. Following a strange 
woman that he saw one day, he came to a hill side, where she 
entered by a concealed door. Finn attempted to follow her 
inside, and had his hand on the door-post, when the door suddenly 
shut on him and jammed his thumb. With difficulty extricating 
his thumb, he very naturally shoved the hurt member into his 
mouth, when, lo ! he found himself possessed of the gift of seeing 
future events. This gift, however, he possessed only when he 
bruised his thumb in his mouth. 

( To be continued.) 



72 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE, 

THE ETHICS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



IX. DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE (Continued.) 

OF PROFIT AND INTEREST. i. Having, in the last chapter, 
treated of labour and capital, and shown that they are of the same 
generic nature, inasmuch as they are both force in the work of 
production, it will be more consecutive to inquire now into the 
correlative subjects of profit and interest, before entering on the 
consideration of power and wealth. Interest has already been 
defined as the wages of capital, and I mentioned that the funda- 
mental cause of it must be referred, to the natural phenomenon 
of depreciation. On further reflection, and by the examination 
of other causes, I believe I have made a discovery, the quest of 
which has occupied and perplexed abler inquirers. The subject 
is not only still involved in obscurity, but from the want of a 
proper understanding of its cause and laws, the same assaults 
are being made upon it, and upon the rights of capital, by some 
writers, as are being made upon land and rent. 

2. The subject of the cause of interest has been treated of 
by David Hume, the historian, in one of his philosophic essays, 
with, perhaps, more research and acuteness of perception, as well 
as greater felicity of expression, than by Adam Smith. In- 
terest being so immediately connected with the use of money in 
its three-fold function, namely (i) real value, as a pruduct of 
labour ; (2) as representing the value of the things exchanged ; 
and (3) as the standard or instrument by means of which the 
exchange is effected the fundamental cause of it has hitherto 
not been discovered, owing, perhaps, to vagueness of ideas regard- 
ing collateral primary causes, as the attention of the economists 
was so concentrated on science that they excluded the light of 
philosophy from their minds. The subject being one of great 
practical importance, as well as of philosophic interest, I must 
ask the reader's thoughtful attention and patience while examin- 
ing, at some length, the arguments of Smith and Hume. 

3. At this stage, it is essential that the component parts of 
profit should be stated. These are (i) the wages of the capi- 
talist, who works, or superintends his own business ; (2) interest, 



ETHICS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 73 

which I have termed the wages of capital ; (3) risks, which are 
now usually covered by insurance ; and (4) and most important, 
depreciation, which is sometimes called " tear and wear ;" but it 
must be observed that depreciation takes place in things forming 
capital which are not subjected to " tear and wear." 

4. Adarn Smith devotes considerable space to the discussion 
of the changes in the rate, and to 'the probable causes of these 

. changes, with his wonted clearness of exposition ; but he did 
not enter upon the inquiry as to the fundamental cause of the 
phenomenon itself; considering, probably, that David Hume 
had discussed the question with as much ability and research as 

- he himself could bestow upon it. A few extracts from the works 
of these great authors will fully show the reader the nature 
of the question 

ADAM SMITH " Accordingly, therefore, as the usual market rate of interest 
varies in any country, we may be assured that the ordinary profit will vary with it, 
must sink as it sinks, and rise as it rises. The progress of interest, therefore, may 
lead us to form some notion of the progress of profit. 

37th of Henry VIII. all interest above ten per cent, was declared un- 
seems, was sometimes taken before that. In the reign of Edward VI. 
religious zeai prohibited all interest. This prohibition, however, like .others of the 
same kind, had no effect, and probably rather increased than diminished the evils of 

usury As riches, improvement, and population, have increased 

interest has declined. The wages of labour do not sink with the profits of stock. The 
demand for labour increases with the increase of stock, whatever be its profits ; and 
after these are diminished, stock may not only continue to increase, but to increase 
much faster than before. It is with industrious nations who are advancing in the 
acquisition -of riches as with industrious individuals. A great stock, though with 
small" profits, generally increases faster than a small stock with great profits. Money, 
says the proverb, makes money. When you have got a little, it is often easy to get 

more. The great difficulty is to get that little The diminution of the 

capital stock of the society, or of the funds destined for the maintenance of industry, 
however, as it lowers the wages of labour, so it raises the profits of stock, and conse- 
quently the interest of money In countries which are fast advancing 

in riches the low rate of profit may, in the price of many commodities, compensate the 
high wages of labour, and enable those countries to sell as cheap as their less thriving 

neighbours, among whom the wages of labour may be lower Mr 

Locke, Mr Law, and Mr Montesquieu, as well as many other writers, seem to have 
imagined that the increase of the quantity of gold and silver, in consequence of the 
discovery of the 'Spanish West Indies,' was the real cause of the lowering of the 
rate of interest through the greater part of Europe. Those metals, they say, having 
become of less value themselves, the use of any particular portion of them necessarily 
became of less value too, and consequently the price which could be paid for it. This 
notion, which at first sight might seem so plausible, has been so fully exposed by Mr 
Hume that it is perhaps unnecessary to say anything more about it." 




74 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

DAVID HUME " Nothing is esteemed a more certain sign of the flourishing 
condition of any nation than the lowness of interest, and with reason, though I believe 

the cause is somewhat different from what is commonly apprehended 

An effect always holds proportion with its cause. Prices have risen near four times 
since the discovery of the Indies, and it is probable gold and silver have multiplied 
much more ; but interest has not fallen much above a half. The rate of interest, 
therefore, is not derived from the quantity of the precious metals. 

" Money having chiefly a fictitious value, the greater or less plenty of it is of no 
consequence if we consider a nation within itself ; and the quantity of specie, when 
once fixed, though ever so large, has no other effect than to oblige every one to tell 
out a greater number of these shining bits of metal for clothes, furniture, or equipage 

without increasing any one convenience of life If gold and silver 

have increased in the state together with industry, it will require a greater quantity of 
these metals to represent a great quantity of commodities and labour. If industry 
alone has increased, the prices of everything must sink, and a small quantity of specie 
will serve as a representation. 

" It may be proper to observe on this head that low interest and low profits of mer- 
chandise are two events that mutually forward each other, and are both originally 
derived fiom that extension of commerce which produces opulent merchants, and 
renders the monied interest considerable. Where merchants possess great stocks, 
whether represented by few or many pieces of metal, it must frequently happen that 
when they either become tired of business or leave heirs unwilling or unfit to engage 
in commerce, a great proportion of these riches naturally seeks an annual and secure 
revenue. The plenty diminishes the price, and makes the lenders accept of a low 
interest. This consideration obliges many to keep their stock employed in trade, and 
rather be content with low profits than dispose of their money at an undervalue. On 
the other hand, when commerce has become extensive, and employs large stocks, there 
must arise rivalships among the merchants, which diminish the profits of trade at the 
same time that they increase the trade itself. The low profits of merchandise induce 
the merchants to accept more willingly of a low interest when they leave off business 
and begin to indulge themselves in ease and indolence. It is needless, therefore, to 
inquire which of these circumstances, to wit, low interest or low profits, is the cause, 
and which the effect. They both arise from an extensive commerce, and mutually 
forward each other. No man will accept of low profits where he can have high in- 
interest, and no man will accept of low interest where he can have high profits. An 
extensive commerce, by producing large stocks, diminishes both interest and profits 
and is always assisted in its diminution of the one by the proportional sinking of the 
other. I may add that, as low profits arise from the increase of commerce and in- 
dustry, they serve in their turn to its farther increase by rendering the commodities 
cheaper, encouraging the consumption, and heightening the industry. And thus, if 
we consider the whole connection of causes and effects, interest is the barometer of the 
State, and its lowness is a sign almost infallible of the flourishing condition of a 

people Those who have asserted that the plenty of money was the 

cause of low interest seem to have taken a collateral effect for a cause, since the same 
industry which sinks the interest commonly acquires great abundance of the precious 

metals But it is evident that the greater or less stock of labour and 

commodities must have a great influence, since we really and in effect borrow these 
when we take money upon interest. It is true when commerce is extended all over 
the globe the most industrious nations always abound most with the precious metals, 



ETHICS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 75 

so that low interest and plenty of money are, in fact, almost inseparable. But still 
it is of consequence to know the principle whence any phenomenon arises, and to 
distinguish between a cause and a concomitant effect. Besides that, the speculation is 
curious ; it may frequently be of use in the conduct of public affairs. At least, it 
must be owned that nothing can be of more use than to improve by practice the 
method of reasoning on these subjects, which of all others are the most important, 
though they are commonly treated in the loosest and most careless manner." 

5. The nature of the question has now been fully stated, and 
as a preliminary remark to all that follows, and as complimental 
to Hume's observation, that " an affect always holds proportion 
with its cause," let it be carefully observed that the price of all 
commodities depends upon abundance or scarcity in proportion 
to the consumption. The English economists have coined a 
solecism in the expression " demand and supply " of which the 
Scotch logicians could hardly be guilty. These are not correlative 
terms, for there can be no ratio between a demand, which is a 
request or desire, and a supply which refers to commodities. 
The word demand is, by itself, a correct enough expression, but 
its correlative is response, or satisfaction, and not supply, the 
correlative of which is outlet or consumption. It is the high 
or low price which regulates the production of any particular 
commodity which is not limited in nature. It is thus with regard 
to diamonds, which are so much prized for their brilliance as 
ornaments. They are scarce in nature and require great search 
and labour to procure them in small supply ; but if the supply 
could be greatly increased, their price would fall so much that, 
probably, it would not pay for the necessary labour to procure 
them. Although so much prized for their brilliance and rarity, 
yet it is the labour bestowed in digging for them that constitutes 
their value. It is the same with gold and silver. Gold being 
adopted with us, and now with almost all European nations, as 
the standard of value, the price of all other commodities will rise 
or fall in relation to it, as the supply of it exceeds or falls short 
of the proportion in which it is required to meet the wants of an 
increasing commerce ; and it has lately been very shrewdly, and 
with great probability of truth, surmised by Mr Goschen, that it 
has appreciated, owing to the diminished output of the mines. 
Although the yield of silver is very large, it is not improbable 
that its fall in price, in relation to gold, may be partly due to an 
actual appreciation of our standard. This appreciation of gold, 



76 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

if it has actually taken place, would seriously affect farmers, who 
have to pay fixed rents, as the effect would be to depress the 
price of their produce. 

6. It must not be supposed, however, as has been very 
clearly shown by Hume, that the ordinary rate of interest de- 
pends upon the quantity of the precious metals. It is also 
necessary to keep in view that the fluctuations in the rate of 
discount at the Bank of England arise from a different cause. 
The rate of discount at the Bank is sometimes above and some- 
times below the ordinary rate of interest, just the same as the 
price of any other commodity sometimes exceeds and sometimes 
falls below its natural value. This is due to its function as an 
instrument for adjusting international balances, and sometimes 
the activity of the internal trade, or exchanges (which is of the 
same nature as the international cause), as well as a feeling of 
distrust in commercial circles, may force up the rate of discount 
to an abnormal extent. To illustrate this use of money, as of 
real value, and as a standard or instrument, let us suppose that 
in a town or country, there should be a class of dealers, whose 
business consisted in providing expensive measures for corn, oil, 
wine, cloth, and the like, for lending or hire. Any sudden de- 
mand for these commodities would, naturally, occasion a great 
demand for the measures, as every holder of such stocks would 
be anxious to take advantage of the market, and would conse- 
quently give an increased rate for the use or hire of the instrument, 
or of the commodity, in case of his not having another convertible 
commodity to meet the demands of his creditors. 

7. But money forms part of the stock or capital of every 
country, and, as such, is dealt in by bankers as an equivalent as 
well as measure of value ; but the banker does not lend his own 
capital. He is invariably an intermediate party. There is thus 
an illusion produced on the mind by not realising the fact that, 
when we lend or borrow money, we really lend or borrow some- 
thing else which it represents ; for the banker very often gets 
back the same day from one person the identical money which 
he had lent to another for six months or a year. We must not, 
therefore, confound money, as a currency and instrument, with 
those things which are in reality lent and yield wages, which 
wages constitute interest. For instance, I borrow money for 



ETHICS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 77 

investing in horses and ploughs, in fishing boats and nets, or in a 
ship or steamer. I do this in order to earn wages for myself ; 
but it is clear that I must pay the lender or banker the wages 
which these things earn. 

8. The misconceptions regarding interest have arisen from 
the circumstance that the consideration of it has been mixed up 
with the study of the currency, which is a very recondite and 
difficult subject. Even Adam Smith and David Hume did not 
entirely escape from involving the consideration of it too much 
with the discussion concerning the value of money, relative to 
other commodities, or the purchasing power of money, and they 
failed altogether to perceive that it forms the principal com- 
ponent part of profit, especially in businesses which are con- 
ducted on a large scale. Regarding it as such, it is, therefore, 
clear that, if profits fall interest must fall, and if profits rise 
interest must rise, for this is virtually saying that when interest 
rises interest rises ; when interest falls interest falls, and so with 
the general rate of profits. We then see that capital becoming 
abundant, its wages, interest, must fall, as it depends like every 
thing upon abundance or scarcity, in proportion to population. 

9. It remains, however, to be proved that interest is wages, 
and in proving that it is, to justify it, and to show that capital is 
the labourer's collaborateur and best friend. It has already been 
repeatedly stated that the wages of labour have a ratio with pro- 
fits ; consequently labour must have a ratio with capital, for in 
proportionals'there must be four terms at least, and, let it be care- 
fully observed, 'that no ratio can subsist or be established between 
things which are not of the same kind. Euclid's definition is 
as follows : " Ratio is a mutual relation of two magnitudes of 
the same kind to one another in respect of quantity." " Magni- 
tudes which have the same ratio are called proportionals. When 
four magnitudes are proportionals it is usually expressed by saying, 
the first is to be second, as the third is to the fourth." The 
reader must also be cautioned against confounding the abstract 
ratio of figures or numbers with the ratio of things. The import- 
ance of these, distinctions will appear subsequently, when I come 
to deal with the sophistries and inversions of the materialistic 
English economists, who have perverted human reason by the 
misapprehension and misuse of words and terms. 



7 8 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

10. In the previous chapter it has been shown that labour 
and capital are of the same generic nature, because they are both 
force. The natural man, being endowed with an inventive genius, 
has, as it were, formed another man in his own image the 
automaton or mechanical man, which we call capital. This 
mechanical man is, like his prototype, liable to the same acci- 
dents, and subject to the same law of decay and death. The 
individuals die, but the race increases and leads a continuous life. 
It is so with the antitype capital. As phenomena of natural and 
mechanical force they are correlative and homologous. The soul 
is the reality, and man is but a walking shadow : labour is the 
reality, and material is but the outward form. 

For example, let us instance, firstly, living force in the 
case of the horse. In his wild native state he has no value, and 
until lately in Brazil the only value he had was the labour of 
catching and taming him. It is just the same with regard to 
the domesticated horse. His value consists in the labour be- 
stowed on the soil to raise food for him, the labour expended on 
stables for housing him, and the labour of grooming and attend- 
ance. But as he exerts more force, and has greater fleetness than 
man, his day's wages are more than that of a day labourer. 

ii. It may be said it is because he requires food to repair 
his system ; but under the law of depreciation decay and death 
what is there which does not require the repairing of its sys- 
tem ? Does the ship not require repairs ? Do the nets, sails, and 
boat not require repairs? Does not the steam engine require 
repairs, cleaning, and lubricating ? What is the food of man but 
repairs ? That part which is assimilated by the human body is 
but a film as compared with the amount of oil and tallow which 
are required by the steam engine. Now, it is just for the self- 
same reasons that the labourer is worthy of his hire. The com- 
mand has gone forth to man to replenish the earth and subdue 
it to make Nature captive to his will to modify her asperity 
and to enhance her beauty ; but the individual man, whilst sub- 
ject to the sentence of depreciation decay and death and dur- 
ing his struggle with the necessities of his environment, is working 
out " whatever end he means " by bringing to his own relief 
mechanical forces. If he were not under this sentence there 
would not be any necessity for labour, and possibly no increase 



ETHICS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 79 

of population. But, seeing that capital performs more effectively 
the purposes of humanity in the development of force for repro- 
duction, as well as for overcoming time and distance, and in that 
way administering more largely to our varied wants and plea- 
sures, it is most obvious that its wages are justified on the same 
ground as those of the labourer, and that the cause of interest is 
derived from the cause of wages. 

1 2. We see, then, that labour and capital are correlative and 
homologous. But, if there be a ratio between wages and profits, 
they must also be correlative and homologous in every particular. 
The four component parts of profit have been stated. The 
question, then, becomes, are the wages of labour made up of the 
same component parts ? 

It requires no further demonstration than the mere state- 
ment of fact, as already illustrated in the previous chapter, that 
the capitalist who conducts his own business deserves wages 
according to his culture and skill. That rule holds good with 
regard to the labourer. It has been demonstrated in the last 
chapter that part of the wages of skilled and professional labour 
represents capital deposited in the human brain, which is the 
highest and most valuable form of capital devoted to the service 
of humanity. But it will be asked how does interest enter into 
the wages of, say the common field labourer? My answer to this 
is that, unless he receives a modicum to represent the value of 
intellect in its simplest form in the use of the pick and spade or 
plough, he is underpaid, and placed on a level with the brute 
creation, or in the condition of a slave, who requires the super- 
intendence of the lash. The interest in the labourer's wages 
is freedom's premium ! With regard to the component of risks, 
to the honour of the British Parliament be it said, the Employers' 
Liability Act throws compensation for accidents upon employers, 
which acts in an inverse ratio ; but if wages were enhanced, and 
that the employed formed an insurance fund for themselves, it 
would then be in a direct ratio. But how does depreciation enter 
into wages ? My answer to this must be the same as that given 
concerning interest, or the wages of capital. Unless the wages 
of labour are high enough to repair the human capital in rearing 
children, providing something for old age, and, finally, for funeral 
expenses, the wages are too low. 



8o THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

13. I have now demonstrated, not only the cause of interest, 
wherein consists its justification, but also that distributive justice 
proceeds in accordance with the law of geometrical proportion, 
the perfection of which consists in a mean between two ex- 
tremes, as I shall subsequently show. It must be observed in 
the meantime, however, that a dual system of agriculture does 
not conform to the laws of free industries, nor to geometrical 
proportion. Interest, although analagous to rent, is not Jiomolo- 
gous with it, because interest is the wages of capital, which is the 
creation of labour. Rent, on the other hand, is in respect of 
land ; which is not the creation of labour (except in respect of 
its ameliorations, which must always be considered as capital), 
and is, therefore, not homologous with interest. 

It is of prime importance that the industrial classes should 
be thoroughly convinced that the regular rate of interest is not, 
like rent, a tax on labour, except the interest on the National 
Debt, which of course is not capital, and the interest of which 
ought, in justice, to fall exclusively on land, as the Debt was 
incurred, if not for the defence of the land, it was in order to 
secure high rents by such questionable means as taxing the 
American Plantations, and preserving the balance of power on 
the Continent ! Those wars were waged in the interests of land- 
lords alone, who benefited very largely in enhanced rents, whilst 
the trade and commerce of the country is saddled with the in- 
terest on the Debt. It must also be borne in mind that the 
absorption and destruction of a vast amount of capital had 
brought upon the country a state of distress of which the present 
generation has had no experience, and hardly a conception. 

( To be concluded in our next.) 



INVERNESS SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY AND FIELD CLUB. The Inverness 
Scientific Society and Field Club opened its winter session on the evening of the ijth 
November with the annual meeting. The president, Mr Jas. Fraser, C.E., occupied the 
chair. The office-bearers for the ensuing year were then elected : President, Mr E. 
H. Macmillan ; vice-presidents, Sheriff Blair and Wm. Mackay, F.S.A. Scot., solici- 
tor ; secretary, Mr T. D Wallace, F.S.A. Scot. ; treasurer, Mr Jas. Ross ; librarian, 
Mr James Barren, F.S.A. Scot. : curator, Mr George Reid ; members of council, 
Messrs C. R. Manners, C.E. ; Geo. Robertson, Alex. Mackenzie, F.S.A. Scot., Celtic 
Magazine; Alex. Ross, P'.S.A. Scot. ; and Dr Aitken, F.S.A. Scot. The syllabus 
for the ensuing session contains the following subjects : " Travelled boulders of Loch- 
aber,"by Mr Colin Livingston, Fort-William; " Old iron works at Lochmaree," by Mr 
John H. Dixon, supplemented by Mr John E. Marr ; "Plants of Palestine," by Mr 
Alex. Ross; "Electrical Measurements, and the theory of the Dynamo, by Mr M'G. 
Ross, Alness; &c. 



8i 



A TRADITION OF LOCHABER. 



ON the banks of the River Spean, and nearly opposite Keppoch, 
stands the farm house of " Inch " " Tigh na h-Innse." At the 
time of which I write, the tacksman of this place was Ronald 
Macdonald, a cadet of the house of Keppoch. He was a brave 
young fellow, of a most soldierlike appearance, and of a high and 
noble spirit. He fell in love with the daughter of the chief of 
the MacMartin Camerons of Letterfinlay, " Eili na Leitreach" 
as she was called and the maiden responded to his affection with 
her whole heart. MacMartin, however, made an excuse of her 
extreme youth to delay their betrothal, but Ronald feared that 
the father was hoping to get a richer suitor for his beautiful 
daughter. 

One day Ronald was out deerstalking, and towards night, 
when preparing to return home, he heard a woman's shriek on 
the mountain side. The men who were with him got frightened, 
thinking it was the cry of the " Bean-Shith," but Ronald knew 
the voice of his beloved. " Follow me," he cried hastily to his 
men, and before many minutes were over he overtook a gen- 
tleman of the clan Mackintosh, accompanied by some of his 
followers, carrying off Eili, who shortly before had utterly 
refused his offer of marriage. Ronald fought like a hero, and at 
last delivered his beloved from the rough hands that held her in 
bondage ; she clung to him in gladness and joy ; together they 
returned to her father's house, and as soon as Eili was in safety, 
he fell fainting on the floor. His brow had been cut in the most 
dreadful manner, and the blood streaming from the wound had 
been blinding him all the way down the hill, although he had 
said nothing to the maiden about it. He lay ill for a long time 
after, in Letterfinlay House, and when he returned home to 
Inch he took his bride with him. She could not bear to be 
again separated from him, and her father admitted that he had 
nobly earned her. 

The young pair were as happy as such lovers could be, and 
before they were married a year a daughter was born to them. 
Shortly after the birth of their child, Ronald found he had to go 

E 



82 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

to the South on business, and though he felt sorry to be even so 
short a time parted from his wife, he cheered her with hopes of 
a speedy return. A young relative of his own, named Coll, was 
standing, holding the infant in his arms, as Ronald left the 
house. If I do not return, whether will you marry my wife or my 
daughter ? asked Ronald laughingly. " Both perhaps," replied the 
lad. The time appointed for his return came, but no Ronald, 
and for many a weary night Eili sat up waiting to hear his well- 
known foot approaching the house, but all in vain. Months passed 
and years rolled on, but he came not, and then they ceased to 
expect him. Coll remained at Inch, faithful always to the lady 
and her young daughter, protecting them in every possible way. 
Mackintosh began to make proposals again to Eili ; she felt 
sorely afraid of him, and as a protection against him, as well as 
to reward Coll, she made up her mind rather to marry her faith- 
ful friend who had managed everything so well for her during 
the years of her desolation. Her daughter was now upwards of 
fifteen years of age, and needed a guardian who could act with 
the authority of a father. The marriage was duly arranged, and 
all their mutual friends thought it a very wise step for both to 
take. On the wedding day a wearied traveller came to the dis- 
trict, and on calling for a glass of water at a house by the road- 
side, he was told of the cause for the appearance of festivity about 
the house of Inch, when he said the following words, which 
have been handed down : 

" Chunnaic mi smilid do thigh na h-Innse, 
'S bha mi cinnteach gu'r smm'd bhainns'i, 
'S tha mi 'n duil a Righ na Soillse, 
Gur aim learns' tha biadh na bainnse." 

He went on to the house and asked for food, which was placed 
before him in abundance. He inquired if the marriage ceremony 
was over, and he was told that it was. Then he said " Will 
you ask the bride to do me the grace of giving me a glass of 
whisky out of her own hand, and I will give her my blessing. 
The bride came, still looking youthful and lovely. She filled the 
glass, and gave it to the stranger, who rose, and stood looking at 
her in silence, as if preparing to say words that refused to come. 
He took of his bonnet, and running his fingers through his hair, 
exposed his brow. The lady looked, and saw the mark of the 



THE "CLACHNAHAGAIG" STONE. 83 

gash that had been made on her husband's brow on the night on 
which he had saved her from Mackintosh. She looked into his 
eyes, and crying aloud, " My darling, my darling," she fell on his 
bosom. It soon became known to the guests that the marriage 
ceremony of the morning was null and void, and no one was 
better pleased at the return of the long lost one than the 
generous-hearted Coll. "Come here my friend," said Ronald, 
"you cannot have my wife. I have, however, heard to-day 
of your faithfulness, and you shall have my daughter." The 
priest was called forthwith, and Coll was married to young 
Mariot, who had secretly loved him, and sorrowed over his 
marriage to her mother. " By my garment," cried Ronald, " you 
kept your word. You said if I did not return you would marry 
both my wife and daughter, but it was too bad to marry them 
both on the same day." 

Ronald never told what kept him away those fifteen years. 
It was known that a tale of wrong and suffering could be related 
about his absence, and that Mackintosh was to blame for it. If 
Ronald would tell all, he said, the fiery cross would be out at once 
to gather the Macdonalds to avenge his wrongs ; and having got 
home again he wished to live a life of peace. The happy pair 
had several children after that, and their grandchildren and their 
own played together round the same hearth in peace and 
happiness. MARY MACKELLAR. 



THE "CLACHNAHAGAIG" STONE. 

SIR, I have read with much interest the papers by that distinguished antiquarian, 
Mr Ftaser-Mackintosh, on the "Lower Fishings of the Ness;" but with respect to 
one remark which occurs in the first paper (in your October No. ) I should like, with 
your permission, to say a few words. 

After reciting the terms* of the Golden Charter of James VI. giving the right of 
fishing to the Town of 'Inverness, "betwixt the Stone called Clachnahagaig and the 
sea," Mr Fraser-Mackintosh proceeds to state that " the exact site of Clachnahagaig 

has been questioned, but unnecessarily," and he explains that the 

stone was " usually and exactly termed Clachnahalig." I submit, sir, that no evi- 
dence whatever is produced to show that the "Clachnahagaig" of King James' 
charter, and the " Clachnahalaig " of certain plans, titles, &c., are one and the same. 
Any person, or persons, founding rights on the charter are bound to show the " Clach- 
nahagaig " march stone of King James' time ; and that might easily be done had the 
latter stone and its actual position have been guarded with equal care as its confrere, 
the "Clachnacudain," has been. 



84 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

It is urged that " Clachnahalig " is marked in a plan by May of 1762, and in one 
by Home of 1774. This, however, is no evidence as to " Clachnahagaig." 

Again, the paper describes the Upper Fishings as terminating at the " Town's 
lands of Drumdivan, near Balnahaun of Holm." I hold part of the lands of Drum- 
divan, which comprise the Fortalice of Drumdivan, just above Holme House ; the 
house and lands of Burnside (now acquired by Mr Gordon) and Slacknamarlach : 
but Drumdivan never, as I understand, went down to the river ; the very name, I 
believe, signifies in Gaelic " The edge of the ridge," as distinguished from the low 
" Holme ground." 

When Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, moved by antiquarian zeal, erected the monumental 
stone " In memory of Clachnahagaig," we are told that one Charles Fraser, a crofter, 
"audibly declared" that the stone was "truly placed," which, of course, is evidence 
quantum vahat.\ remain, &c., ANGUS MACKINTOSH. 



FEUDAL RELATIONS OF LANDLORD AND TENANT. 

WASHINGTON, U.S.A., September 25, 1883. 

SIR, In your February number, at page 192, is a report of some remarks of Mr 
Mackay on the relationship that of old existed between landlord and tenant. He 
says : " The feudal system, about which one hears a great deal of nonsense now-a-days 
spoken, was established in the Highlands as early as the thirteenth century, since 
which time the chiefs have held the lands as absolute proprietors under written titles, 
in terms similar to those which were common over the rest of Scotland." This pro- 
position appears to include all the chiefs and all the lands, and in that sense is at 
variance with history. Mr Burton tells us (vol. II., p. 57) that feudal institutions were 
established formally throughout Scotland before the close of the thirteenth century, 
but that Celtic customs prevailed in the North ; and (vol. VI., p. 35) that in the year 
1597 Parliament required the chieftains and leaders of clans to attend at Edinburgh 
and produce their titles to their lands, but the response was meagre, because such 
titles did not exist. I think Mr Burton elsewhere explains that the Highlanders had 
a great repugnance to sheepskin titles, which, in an age when the laity had little 
knowledge of letters, gave opportunity for fraud and imposition ; but I have no note 
of the passage. 

It was a fundamental idea of the feudal system that all titles were originally 
derived from the king. The injustice was in treating this legal fiction as a solid fact, 
and claiming for the king all lands to which the occupants did not show a paper title. 
This fiction should, in reason, have been neutralised by another fiction or rather a 
legal presumption that, when one has been in long, uninterrupted, and notorious 
possession of land, he had received a grant from the proper authority, but had lost it. 

Human nature is the same in all ages ; and when the United States acquired 
California from Mexico in 1848, Congress did just what the Scottish Parliament did in 
1597 required all persons occupying land to show their paper titles, and if they could 
show none, their land was declared to be public property. Thus, not only the wild 
tribes of Indians, but many Christianised and semi-civilised communities had their 
lands sold from under their feet, and in many cases they were expelled from fields, 
gardens, and pretty houses, I am, yours, &c., 

JNO, D. MACPHERSON. 



A RUN THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 
BY KENNETH MACDONALD, F.S.A., Scot. 

X. CHICAGO Continued. 

WALKING along the regularly laid out and spacious streets of the 
city, and watching the busy crowds passing to and fro, I could 
hardly realise that fifty years ago the city had no existence ; that 
little more than sixty years ago its site was unbroken prairie, on 
which the Red Indian hunted the white man and the buffalo. 
Yet so it was. This city of half-a-million inhabitants has living 
in it now, or had until recently, a gentleman who came to the 
place where the city now stands when there were only two houses 
on it. In 1833 a village was organised, and four years later 
(1837) the city Charter was obtained. A local census taken in 
1837 showed the population of the new city to be 4179, of whom 
only one man was reported as having no regular employment, 
and he was denominated a " loafer." Unfortunately, the propor- 
tion of " loafers " in the population of Chicago has increased with 
the growth of the city. Until 1848 there was nothing in the 
progress of Chicago to excite special remark, but in that year the 
first of those lines of communication which have contributed so 
materially to the progress of the city was completed. This 
was the Illinois and Michigan Canal, connecting Lake Michigan 
with the Illinois River, and so with the Mississippi. This canal, 
with which the main branch of the Chicago river is connected, 
has been so deepened that it draws the water out of the Lake, 
so that, as the Illinois river flows into the Mississippi, the waters 
of Lake Michigan have been made to flow, as it were, " up-hill," 
and find their way into the Gulf of Mexico. In the pre- 
vious year 1847 the first railway entering the city, the Galona 
and Chicago Union, was begun; and so timid were its projectors, 
that they had a clause inserted in their Charter authorising them 
to make a turnpike instead of a railroad if they saw fit. By the 
end of 1848 they had laid only ten miles of line. This modest, 
and, at the outset, timid enterprise, has now grown into the 
Chicago and North-Western Corporation, which now owns nearly 
three thousand miles of railway. In 1852 rail communication 



86 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

was opened with the East. From that time the progress of 
Chicago was rapid. Between 1840 and 1850 the population had 
increased from 4479 to 28,963 ; in 1853 it had increased to 
59,130; in 1855 it had risen to 83,509; and in 1871 the local 
census gave a population of nearly 350,000. 

An English writer who visited Chicago in 1867, describes it 
as being one of the handsomest and best built cities in the 
United States, superior in many respects to New York. He 
says, " There are many beautiful private dwellings in the princi- 
pal streets, which would be a credit to the West End of London ; 
in fact, there is nothing in London, except a few great mansions, 
superior to them. The Churches are large and handsome, built 
for the most part of stone, and the public buildings are not only 
thoroughly adapted for the purposes for which they are designed, 
but they are also very imposing in appearance. Birmingham 
and Glasgow are, compared with Chicago, what the back streets 
of London are compared with Belgravia. There is no theatre in 
England, except Covent Garden, so spacious and so commodious 
as the Opera House here. Some of the streets are built upon for 
a distance of three miles ; they are half as broad again as Regent 
Street, and as the city grows they may be carried as far out to the 
West as the inhabitants please, for there is only the prairie 

beyond It is impossible to place a limit upon the 

future growth of this remarkable city. There is an unbounded 
trade at the back, and the people have done, and are doing, their 
utmost to entice it here. Two thousand miles of inland naviga- 
tion are controlled from Chicago, and all the rich country of the 
West passes its treasures into it." Such was Chicago in 1867, 
and for four years longer it continued without interruption its 
remarkable progress onwards. Beautiful buildings, of Athens' 
(Illinois) marble says a writer in one of the American maga- 
zines nearly white, rose on all side^, and additions were daily 
made to their number. The situation and conformation of the 
city do not differ greatly at present from what they were then. 
It extends along the Lake shore, which here runs north and 
south, and, of course, gives it a long eastern water front. The 
Chicago river, which empties into the Lake, forks very near its 
mouth ; the north branch extending north-westerly, and the south 
branch first southerly, and then a little south of west. Bounded 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 87 

on the north by the short main river, on the west by the north- 
and-south portion of the south branch, and on the east by 
the Lake, lay and lies the most important business section. 
Bridges were originally built across the river, at intervals of two 
blocks ; but as the draws were frequently open, and great delays 
ensued, a tunnel was constructed in 1869 to connect the south 
and west divisions, and another in 1871 to connect the north and 
south sides. Many as had been, up to 1871, the solid and stately 
buildings erected, there remained interspersed among them many 
more of the wooden structures of former days. For a great 
many miles the sidewalks, too, were of wood. In the early days 
of October 1871, the city of Chicago was as active and bustling 
as at any time in its history. The preceding months had been 
very dry throughout the North-western country, and farmers 
were complaining ; but the city people generally were hopeful 
and contented, and, as usual, absorbed in their occupations and 
industries. Nothing could have seemed more improbable than 
that a few hours would send this vast, strong, resolute population 
from prosperity to ruin, from happiness to despair. Yet, on 
Sunday evening, October 8, some one, as the story goes, upset a 
lighted Kerosene lamp in a small wooden building in De Koven 
Street, on the west side. A gale was blowing from the south- 
west, and in a few hours the most terrible conflagration known in 
modern times was fiercely raging. During the whole of that 
night and the greater part of the next day, the fire continued to 
rage. The city fire department, although efficient, was exhausted 
by a large fire on the previous Saturday, and the fire soon outran 
their efforts to check it. In the division where it originated it 
burned over 194 acres, reduced 500 buildings to ashes, and made 
2500 people homeless. Crossing to the south division, it swept 
over 460 acres, and destroyed over 1600 stores, 28 hotels, 60 
manufacturing establishments, and the homes of some 22,000 
persons. Rushing across the main river, it attacked the north 
side. In a short time, in an area of 1470 acres, where had been 
the dwellings of 75,000 people, 600 stores, and 100 manufactories, 
there was left out of 1 3,300 buildings, just one. The fire was at 
last stopped by blowing up with gunpowder a line of houses to 
the south of the fire, while on the north it only ceased its ravages 
when there was nothing more to burn. The direction of the 



88 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

wind prevented the fire from spreading to the westward. Over 
98,000 people were rendered homeless, and nearly all the public 
buildings in the city Custom-Houses, Post-Office, Court-House, 
Churches, Hotels, Theatres, Banks, and Railway Stations were 
destroyed. The area over which the fire extended, and which it 
burnt out, was about four miles in length by from one to one 
and a-half miles in width, the estimated amount of street 
frontage destroyed being 73 miles. 

If it was difficult to realise that only fifty years ago Chicago 
was a mere hamlet, it was almost more .difficult to realise 
that only eleven years had elapsed since such a dire calamity 
overtook the city. Her rivals thought the blow which fell on the 
city in 1871 would crush her, and that before she rose from her 
ashes her commerce would be gone. But the men who had 
made Chicago were not to be crushed. Before the ashes of the 
burnt city were cool the work of rebuilding was commenced. 
Fortunately the records of the titles by which the building lots 
in the city were held were saved from the fire by the courage and 
determination of their custodier, so that legal difficulties which 
might otherwise have arisen were avoided. Every man, whatever 
his station, put his hand to the work that was to do. Merchant 
princes might be seen in their shirt sleeves digging among and 
clearing away the ruins of their business premises, that new ones 
might be reared in their place. In the course of the first year 
after the fire, buildings representing when finished, a value of 
over eight millions of pounds sterling, had been either erected or 
started, and within three years the city had been provided with 
buildings equal in capacity to, and double the value of, those 
destroyed by the fire. Never for a moment did Chicago stop its 
onward progress. In 1872 the population had increased to 
367,000 ; in 1874, to 395,000 ; and at present it is believed to be 
over half-a-million. It is now the most beautiful city in the United 
States, and probably in the world ; and year by year, as the rich 
country behind it is opened up and settled, its commerce and its 
riches increase. 

Before leaving Chicago I had the pleasure of meeting a son 
of the Rev. Mr Sage, the first Free Church minister of Resolis, in 
Ross-shire, and one of the leaders of the Evangelical party in the 
Church of Scotland, prior to and at the Disruption. Mr Wm. M. 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 89 

Sage is General Freight Agent on the Chicago, Rock Island, and 
Pacific Railway, one of the largest systems running out of 
Chicago, and I afterwards heard from a countryman in Min- 
nesota, who was unacquainted with him except by name, that he 
was the most popular Freight Agent in Chicago. The name of 
Mr Sage, of Resolis, is still a household word in the Highlands 
of Scotland, and Highlanders everywhere will be gratified to 
know that his son occupies so prominent and important a posi- 
tion in the West, and with so much acceptance to those with 
whom he comes in contact. 

I left Chicago with regret, although I felt somewhat unhappy 
in being a mere onlooker among all the bustle and hurry around 
me. In the early evening we steamed out of Chicago on towards 
the Mississippi, which the beautiful Albert Lea Route crosses at 
Rock Island. The city of Saint Paul was my immediate desti- 
nation, but 

" The best laid schemes o' mice an' men 
Gang aft a-gley. " 

Early in the morning the conductor of the Pullman car called all 
the passengers, and told them if they wanted breakfast they 
must look sharp, as the dining-room car would be detached at 
West Liberty, which we were timed to reach at seven o'clock. 
A hurried toilet and a hurried breakfast were accomplished be- 
fore West Liberty was reached, and there we found that not only 
were we to lose the dining-room car, but the sleeper as well. 
These went on to the west, while our route was to the north, 
Those of the passengers who were going in the latter direction had 
unwillingly to move into the rear cars. The transference brought 
me into contact with passengers who had joined the train during 
the night. To one of these my tongue betrayed me. He was a 
sharp-looking young gentleman, with fair hair and beard, and 
when he had passed me several times, looking sharply into my 
face each time, as I sat on the arm of one of the seats speaking to 
a lady and her child who had been my fellow-travellers over 
night, the extensive experience I had acquired during my two or 
three weeks' sojourn on the Continent enabled me to set him down 
at once as a Yankee, and, I was more than half inclined to add 
(to myself of course), an impudent one. I was never more mis- 
taken. A more genuine and genial son of Scottish soil never 



9 o THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

existed. While I was smoking on the platform of the car early 
in the forenoon, my " Yankee " friend joined me, and in a quiet and 
kindly tone asked me whether I was from the " old country." These 
are talismanic words away from home, and after I had satisfied 
my curiosity by finding out that I had betrayed my nationality 
by my pronunciation of Chicago (which it seems the Americans 
pronounce " Shicago"), my Yankee friend and I exchanged bio- 
graphies. His name is Millar, a native of Caithness, for some 
time resident in Invergordon, and now having his home in Min- 
neapolis. He came to America some thirteen years ago, went in- 
to a New York drapery house, doing an extensive wholesale 
business, and he now represents the house in the State of Iowa. 
When I met him he was on his way to his home in Minneapolis, 
which is two or three hundred miles from his business head- 
quarters, to see his wife, who was in delicate health. With my 
newly formed acquaintance the day passed very pleasantly, and 
as we approached Minneapolis, my friend invited me to stay over 
night in the city, and make his house my home. I agreed to the 
first part of the proposal, but not to the second ; and accordingly, 
on our arrival at Minneapolis, I sent on my baggage check, and 
found my way to the Nicolette House, the principal Hotel in 
Minneapolis, where, through the good offices of my friend, I ob- 
tained accommodation. K. M'D. 
(To be continued.) 



PROPOSED TESTIMONIAL TO PROFESSOR BLACKIE. 



THE readers of the Celtic Magazine are aware that a proposal was made some time 
ago in these pages to recognise in some public manner the services of Professor 
Blackie to the cause of our Gaelic language and literature, and more particularly 
his great and successful efforts for establishing r. Celtic Chair in the University of 
Edinburgh. The present, just when the new Celtic Professor has begun his public 
labours, is a most opportune time for giving effect to the proposal. With that 
object in view, the Gaelic Society of Inverness have communicated with several 
influential Highlanders for active support ; and all lovers of our Gaelic mother- 
tongue will be pleased to learn that, among others, the following noblemen and 
gentlemen have agreed to act as a Provisional Committee to promote the proposed 
testimonial, viz. : The Right Hon. the Earl of Breadalbane ; Sir Kenneth S. Mac- 
kenzie of Gairloch, Bart., Lord Lieutenant of Ross-shire ; Cluny Macpherson of Cluny 
Macpherson, C.B. ; Lachlan Macdonald, Esq. ofSkeabost; Charles Fraser-Mackintosh, 
Esq., M.P. ; the Right Rev. Angus Macdonald, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles ; Alex. 
Nicolson, Esq., M.A., LL.I)., Advocate, Sheriff-Substitute of Kirkcudbright ; Donald 
Mackinnon, Esq., M.A., Professor of the Celtic Languages and Literature in 



TESTIMONIAL TO PROFESSOR BLACKIE. 91 

the University of Edinburgh; H. C. Macandrew, Esq., Provost of Inverness; 
Kenneth Macdonald, Esq., F.S.A. Scot., Town-Clerk of Inverness; John Mackay, 
Esq., C.E., Hereford ; Major Colin Mackenzie, Seaforth Highlanders ; Rev. Donald 
Macdonald, Glenfinnan; Bailie Macdonald, Aberdeen; Ex-Provost Simpson, Inverness; 
Councillor W. G. Stuart, Inverness ; and the Council of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, 
which consists for the current year of - The Right Honourable The Earl of Dunmore, 
chief; Messrs Alexander Mackenzie, F.S.A. Scot., editor of the Celtic Magazine; 
John Macdonald, merchant, Exchange ; and Alexander Macbain, M.A., head- 
master of Raining School, Inverness, chieftains; William Mackay, F.S.A. Scot., 
solicitor, honorary secretary ; William Mackenzie, Drummond Street, secretary ; 
Duncan Mackintosh, Bank of Scotland, treasurer ; Bailie Mackay, and Messrs George 
I. Campbell, solicitor ; Colin Chisholm, Namur Cottage ; J. Whyte, librarian ; and 
A. R. Macraild, writer, Inverness, members of council. Other gentlemen willing to 
join the Committee should intimate their wish to the Secretary. 

Charles Fraser-Mackintosh, Esq., M.P., has consented to act as honorary 
treasurer. Mr William Mackenzie, Secretary of the Society, will act in the same 
capacity for the Committee. 

A circular, setting forth the object in view, is now in course of being issued, and 
as it is impossible to send a copy of it to every one, we would urge on all who wish 
to co-operate in promoting the laudable object the Committee have in view, to com- 
municate with the Secretary ; or to send their subscriptions to the Honorary Treasurer 
at his residence, 5 Clarges Street, London, W. 

In particular it is impossible to send, the circular to many Highlanders in the 
Colonies, and elsewhere out of Scotland. We would, therefore, especially commend 
the matter to our leading countrymen abroad and in the South, and respectfully 
suggest to them the formation of Committees in the principle centres among High- 
landers all over the world. Several subscriptions from ten guineas down to half-a- 
crown have been already intimated. 

In his excellent inaugural address, Professor Mackinnon referred to Professor 
Blackie's labours in connection with the Celtic Chair in the following happy 
manner : 

" We owe it especially to the founder of the Chair, that no effort will be wanting 
on our part to prove that upon scientific, as well as upon patriotic grounds, the 
Chair fills a gap in our national system of education. It was founded as probably 
never Chair was founded before. When the history of the movement comes to 
be written, it will be found that the work was the work of one man. Professor 
Blackie undertook the duty when others failed. With a large faith, a firm purpose, 
a loving heart, and an eloquent tongue, during all these years he never lost sight 
of the object to which he devoted himself. He called himself the Apostle 
of the Celts ; and he was ready to become all things to all men, that he might win 
subscriptions. And subscriptions he did win from high and low, rich and poor; from 
the student of science and the votary of commerce ; from the peer and the peasant ; 
from the Queen upon the throne and the poorest of her Highland subjects. . . . 
He has made the language of the Celt classical within these walls of learning. To 
use his own words, he has placed it 

' With Greece and with Rome in the schools of the wise.' 
And shall we not say to him in the old language of this land, 
' Buaidh is piseach air a cheann'. 

'An la a chi 's nach fhaic. ' " 
And so say we. 

Gu'm bu fada beo an skr ghaisgeach. 



92 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

MARBH-RANN DO CHALUM RUAUH MACCOINNICH : 
LE RUAIRIDH, A BHRATHAIR. 



[THE following elegy was composed by Roderick Mackenzie, heir-male of the Old 
Mackenzies of Applecross, to his brother Malcolm Roy. The author composed 
several other very beautiful pieces, but few, if any, of them have been preserved. He 
had emigrated to Nova Scotia early in the century, leaving the devoted Malcolm be- 
hind him in this country. We are indebted for the manuscript, which is phonetically 
written, to Mrs Leed, Fairfield Road, Inverness, herself a near relation, and a direct 
descendant of the author, through her mother, Mrs Farquhar Macrae, Strome Hotel 
(North Side), Lochcarron.] 

A Righ, gur mis' tha bochd, truagh, 

'S trie deoir air mo ghruaidh, 

'S m6 's trie mi ri luaidh mo dh6ruinn, 

'S mi ri cumhadh 'n fhir ruaidh, 

Dh' fhag mi thall thair a' chuain, 

Far nach cluinn mi, a luaidh, do chomhradh. 

'S e mo chridhe 'tha bruit', 

'S trie snidh' air mo shuil, 

'S thuit m' inntinn gu tuirs' a's br6n domh ; 

'S ann agam tha'm fath, 

'S mi 'chaill mo dheas-laimh y 

Mo thasgaidh, 's mo bhrathair ro-mhath. 

Aona bhrathair mo ghaoil, 
Dh'fhag cho muladach mi, 

'S nach urrainn domh inns' mo dhoruinn ; 
'S ann domhsa tha buan, 
H-uile mionaid is uair, 

A bhi cuimhneachadh buaidhean t'oige, 
'S cha'n 'eil lighich fo'n ghrein, 
A leighseas mo chreuchd, 

An taobh-sa Mhac Dhe na Gloire ; 
Bho'n thainig gun dail 
Ort sumanadh bais, 

Thuit mo chridhe fo shail mo bhroige. 

Sid am bks 'thig gu teach, 
Air sliochd Adhaimh fa leth, 

Bho rinn 'Namhaid ar creach 's ar spuilleadh. 
Mur be 'n Ti le mh6r ghras, 
Gu'n do sheas E na'r n-ait, 

Bhiodh sinn' uile baite cdmhladh ; 
Tha mi 'n d&chas, a ghraidh, 
Gu'n d' rinn creideamh thu slan 

Anns an Ti am beil fath nar dochais ; 
'S cha'n 'eil teagamh 'n am chriclh, 
Nach eil t-anam an slth, 

Mar-ri ainglibh a' seinn nan oran. 



MARBH-RANN. 93 



Bu mhi d' Oisean bochd, truagh, 
'S mi 'dh'fheudadh a luaidh 

Gu 'm bu diombuan, neo-bhuan do sheorsa : 
Bha iad foghainteach, garbh, 
'S bha iad math air ceann airm, 

'S bu mhath cuid diubh gu sealg fear cr6ice ; 
Chunnaic mise thu fein, 
Nach fhaicinn air feill, 

No 'n co-thional cheud aig Ordugh, 
Na bu smearaile ceum, 
'Gabhail beachd ort na d' dheigh, 

'S tu 'g amharc fo t'eudadh D6mhnaich. 

Thigeadh feileadh nam ball, 
Air a phreasadh gu teann ; 

"Se nach fheumadh 'bhi gann da dheanamh ; 
Gartan craobhach, caol, daight', 
'S osan gearr do'n ch!6 bhreac, 

Bho laimh taillear bu mhath gu fhiaradh. 
Air an iosgaid ghil, dhluth, 
Bu ro-shoillear fo'n ghlun, 

Air an dearcadh gach suil air lianaig : 
'S cha bu chladhaire thu, 
'N fhuair a chuirt' thu gu d' chul, 

'S cha robh taise 'n ad ghnuis gu striochdadh. 

Mo ghradh an spalpaire grinn, 
Air an laidheadh na rainn, 

Air nach d' rainig an aois mhor bhliadhnaibh 
Dha 'n robh cridhe neo-thoinnt', 
Leis nach d' rugadh an fhoill, 

Pairteach, furanach, fialaidh, foirmeil ; 
Fear modhail 's e ciuin, 
'S fiamh a' ghair' air a ghnuis, 

'S e na labhairt cho muint ri maighdinn ; 
Anns gach cruadal a's tuirn, 
'S tu nach teicheadh air chul, 

'S bha thu fearail an cuisean saighdeir. 

Gur e 'n t-eug bha gun bhaigh, 
Bhuail e palsaidh na d' laimh , 

'Chaidh le sumanadh bais g'ad iarraidh ; 
Is maor le 'n teidear an t-aog, 
Nach gabh cumha no els, 

Ach bhi umhailt' gach'taobh g'an iarr e ; 
'S maor e 'bhagras gach righ, 
Anns gach cath agus stri 

Chumadh cogadh fad mhiltean bliadhna ; 
Bha e treun anns gach blar, 
A's lann gheur 'na|dheas*laimh, 

Do 'm feum uile shiol Adhaimh striochdadh. 



94 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Bho'n thainig mi'n nuadh-dhuthaich, 
lomallaich, fhuair, 

Fhuair mi carrachdainn cruaidh gu leor innt'; 
Bho 'n dh'eug Mairi mo ruin, 
'Sa chaill mi fradharc mo shul, 

'S m6r gum b'fhearr learn 'bhi 'n duthaich m' eolais ; 
Gu'm beil m' aigneadh gach uair, 
'Ruith a null air a* chuan, 

'S mi ri cumha Chaluim Ruaidh, 's nach beo e : 
'S mi mar dhuine gun cholg, 
Dheth a spuillteadh 'chuid airm, 

'S gur e cumha nam marbh a le&n mi. 

Tha gach fear 'thig as ur 

'G inns' a chorr dheth do chliu, 

De na thainig an taobh so dh' fhairge ; 
'S bi gach fear a tha thall 
'Cur an aonta na cheann, 

Nach deach aon ni 'chur meallt' na mharbhrainn, 
Mu'n laoch mhisneachail, threun. 
Do 'n robh gliocas le ceill, 

Anns gach subhailc bha ceutach, ainmeil ; 
'S bho 'n bharc ort an t-eug, 
Thuit an cul as mo sgeith, 

'S mi gun bhrathair 'n ad dheigh bho 'n dh'fhalbh thu. 



CELTIC AND LITERARY NOTES. 



IT is our purpose in future to devote a small portion of our space to the recording, in 
the form of short notes, of important events of a Celtic character, especially such as 
bear upon the language and literature of the Gael. We shall be glad to receive con- 
tributions from friends who may have any facts to communicate which they consider 
would add to the freshness and interest of this department. Announcements of forth- 
coming Celtic works, intimations of the formation of Celtic Societies, or of the incep- 
tion and progress of any movements for preserving the records and traditions, or 
promoting the use of the language, of the Gael, are the description of notes which we 
specially invite. 

A resolution was come to by the Gaelic Society of Inverness last winter, of estab- 
lishing a class for the teaching of Gaelic. We hope the suggestion will be cordially 
taken up now that the Society has entered on its winter work, and that a flourishing 
class will be the result. 



Two rare and important Highland works are about to be re-issued, namely, 
"Martins Western Islands of Scotland," and Dean Munro'swork on the same, subject 
at an earlier period. Both works have long been scarce and difficult to procure, and 



CELTIC AND LITERARY NOTES. 95 

we have no doubt many will gladly avail themselves of this opportunity of securing 
them. 

We are glad to observe that the veteran Lochfyne bard, Mr Evan MacColl, is 
about to give to the world a new, enlarged, and revised edition of his sweet lyrics, 
both English and Gaelic. We bespeak for the volumes a reception worthy of a true 
and genuine poet, as well as a warm-hearted and manly Highlander. 

The Earl of Seafield has recently issued, for the private use of friends and con- 
nections of the Family of Grant, the history of the "Chiefs of Grant," in three 
magnificent volumes. The work of compiling the history was intrusted to Dr William 
Eraser, of the Register House, Edinburgh, a fact, which in itself, guarantees its 
complete and thoroughly trustworthy character. The wide ramifications of the history 
of the Grant family, and the important share which they have always taken in the 
stirring event of past times in the Highlands, must of necessity render the work one 
of outstanding value to the student of Highland history. As an expression of his 
interest in Inverness and its institutions, the Earl of Seafield has presented a copy of 
" The Chiefs of Grant " to the Public Library. 

"Woods, Forests, and Estates of Perthshire," is the title of a most charming 
book by Mr Thomas Hunter, editor of the Perthshire Constitutional. One does not 
know whether to admire most Mr Hunter's interesting pedigrees of the trees and 
forests of Perthshire, or his lively and enthusiastic pictures of the estates which have 
reared them. Mr Hunter is almost entitled to the description applied to the natural- 
ist of old, who "spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the 
hyssop that groweth out of the wall." We shall avail ourselves of an early opportunity 
of giving this book a more extended notice. 

The Rev. Mr Maccallum, of Arisaig, has published a small collection of Gaelic 
verses under the title of " Sop as gach Seid ;" but beyond the fact that the booklet 
is tastefully got up, and clearly and pretty correctly printed, there is not much calling 
for praise. Mr Maccallum has done much meritorious work in other spheres, and is 
capable of doing more poetry is, however, not his forte. The time required to produce 
the Gaelic rhymes before us may be described as wasted on the profitless occupation 
of "trusadh nan Sop 's a' leigeil nan boitean leis an t-sruth," while more import- 
ant work lies to Mr Maccallum's hand all around him. It requires something more 
than poetic licence to justify our author, when he makes the sun rise on Christmas 
Eve. The astronomical phenomenon is thus referred to on page 1 1 : 
" Furan's failt' ort, Oidhche Nollaig ! 

Deonach molam fein thu ; 

Soills' na Grein rinn sinne sona, 

Roimhe ortsa dh' eirich." 

Messrs Maclachlan & Stewart, Edinburgh, are about to publish a large collection 
of Highland dance music. The tunes are arranged and selected by Mr James 
Stewart-Robertson of Edradynate, a gentleman of wide experience in this department 
of science and art. The collection will consist of no fewer than 800 tunes. The same 
publishers have also in the press another musical work, namely, a collection of Gaelic 
songs, with airs and English translations, edited and arranged by Mr Charles Stewart 
of Tigh-an-duin, whose name is sufficient guarantee that the work will be all that good 
taste, wide and correct knowledge, and hearty Highland enthusiasm can make it. , 



The third volume of Mackintosh's " History of Civilisation in Scotland" has just 



96 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

been issued, and it fully justifies the high anticipations excited by the former volumes. 
This volume is devoted to an account of the Union of the Crowns in 1603, the Cove- 
nanting struggle, the Commonwealth, the Restoration, the Revolution, the Risings, 
and the social and literary history of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The 
work, when completed, as it is expected to be by the publication of a fourth volume, 
will form a monument of faithful and painstaking labour. No Scotchman's library 
can be complete without it. We only say this much at present, as we purpose to 
review the volume before us more fully on an early occasion. 

A deputation of gentlemen interested in the promotion of the study and intelligent 
use of Gaelic in Irish schools, recently waited upon the Secretary to the Lord-Lieuten- 
ant, with the view of enlisting his aid in the accomplishment of their purpose. What 
the prospects held out to them were we know not, but we mention the fact as an ex- 
ample and incentive to the friends of the Gaelic language in Scotland to bestir them- 
selves in a similar manner. The concession made in the Code a few years ago in 
favour of the movement amounts to no more than a recognition of its reasonableness. 
Its practical value is infinitesimal, and therefore we trust our societies will buckle on 
their armour once more for further demands, and raise the question to the position of 
a test one on the hustings, in view of the extension of electoral power to the mass of 
the Highland population. 

One of the most important events in the history of the Celtic languages, and one 
likely to exert a weighty influence on their future preservation and utilisation, 
occurred recently at Edinburgh. We refer to the inauguration of the Chair of Celtic 
Languages, History, Literature, and Antiquities. The inaugural address delivered 
by Professor Mackinnon, is now before us, and the highest praise which we can 
bestow upon it is to say that it was eminently worthy of the occasion. It bears evi- 
dence of being the work of one who can apply to the unique and all-important labours 
on which he has entered, those qualities, in a very high degree, which are necessary 
for the effective discharge of the duties of his office. In Mr Mackinnon's address, 
the field to be brought under cultivation is first sketched. In doing so he evinces an 
extensive and minute acquaintance with all the available historical and philological 
sources of information. To this is added a thorough knowledge of the vernacular, 
and he brings to bear upon the work a spirit of admirable candour and impartiality, 
that enables him to address himself to it in a truly philosophic spirit, willing 
to receive light and teaching from the endless variety of dialectic differences which 
prevail in the domain of the Gaelic tongue, instead of dogmatically elevating the 
patois of a district into the position of an infallible standard. Mr Mackinnon adopts 
as the principle of his conduct that of the apostle, and also that of science and com- 
mon sense, " Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good." 

In connection with the work of the Celtic Chair, Mr Mackinnon is preparing a 
series of Gaelic Reading Books, the first of which is now in the press ; and, judging 
from advanced sheets which have been sent us, the work is done in a thorough and 
accurate manner. We are certain that the preparation of these manuals alone will 
lead to a renewed interest in the teaching of the language, not merely in connection 
with the University classes in Edinburgh, but over the length and breadth of the 
Gaelic world. There are at present in existence no class-books that could be made 
available, and thus a great desideratum will be supplied; and did Professor Mackinnon 
accomplish nothing else, he would, even for this act alone, have deserved well of the 
youth of his country. 



THE 

CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



CONDUCTED BY 



ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A., Scot. 
No. XCIX. JANUARY 1884. VOL. IX. 

THE HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 

By the EDITOR. 

XII. 

SIR EWEN CAMERON Continued. REMARKABLE INCIDENTS 
IN HIS EARLY CAREER. 

LOCHIEL, shortly after the incident described in our last, received 
a message from General Middleton that he had been defeated by 
General Morgan at Lochgarry, where he was surprised and had 
many of his men killed, at a time when he thought himself quite 
free from all danger at the hands of the enemy. In consequence 
of this defeat, Middleton, who had previously invited the King to 
come over from France in the following spring, promising His 
Majesty that the country as one man would rise to support him, 
gave up all hopes of success for the Loyalists, and he sent express 
instructions to Lochiel to come to him, not so much with the 
view of continuing the war, as to concert the best means of giving 
it up on the best and most honourable terms which in all the cir- 
cumstances they could secure. 

Lochiel proceeded on this journey with three hundred of his 
followers through the most secret and inaccessible mountain 
paths, but the Governor of Inverlochy heard of his movements, 
and advised General Morgan of his departure, pointing out 

F 



98 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

to him the great service that he would render to the State if he 
captured him dead or alive. The young Chief, however, soon 
managed to reach Braemar. Here he took up his quarters for 
the night in a small shealirig, greatly fatigued, where he slept 
soundly in his plaid on a bed of heather. He was disturbed 
early next morning by a peculiar dream, which, according to his 
biographer, was the means of saving his life. He imagined that 
a grizzly-bearded man, of disordered countenance and low stature, 
came where he was, and, striking him smartly on the breast, 
exclaimed in a loud voice, " Lochiel, get up, for the Borrowing 
days will soon be upon you."* Being no believer in dreams, the 
Chief immediately fell asleep; the grizzly little man repeated his past 
performance, calling out louder than before. Lochiel thought that it 
was merely a trick played upon him by one of his own retinue, who 
slept with him in the bothy, and, after chiding him for his inter- 
ference, and getting a denial, he again fell asleep ; but no sooner 
had he done so than the little man again appeared, doubling the 
force of his blow, and crying aloud, as if in terror, " Arise quickly, 
Lochiel, arise, for the Borrowing days are already upon you." 
The Chief immediately started from his bed, and before he was 
able to get on his hose, he was informed that the ground round 
about was literally covered with horse and foot, and that some of 
them were already almost at his bothy's door. He instantly fled to 
the top of the nearest hill, and there, looking behind him for the first 
time, he beheld a whole regiment of dragoons, and several com- 
panies of foot, from the Castle of Kildrummie, sent by General 
Morgan to capture him, on receipt of the message from Inver- 
lochy that he had started on his way to meet General Middle- 
ton, promising the officer in command a rich reward if he brought 
him in either dead or alive. 

The Camerons must have felt themselves in perfect security, 
for they were completely off their guard. They lost all their 
baggage, among which, it is said, were many valuable things, 
including a " quantity of unset diamonds, besides a dozen of 
silver spoons curiously wrought, and on which the whole deca- 

* These are the last three days of March, which, being generally tempestuous, 
often prove fatal to sheep, lambs, and cattle, weakened, when badly fed, by the 
severity of the preceding winter. The three days are said to be borrowed from 
April, whence they are called the " Borrowing days." 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 99 

logue was engraved with great art." All these fell into the 
hands of the enemy. Next night Lochiel slept on the top of a 
mountain where no horse, and scarcely any foot, could reach 
him. During the succeeding day he arrived safely at General 
Middleton's headquarters. Here he remained for a few days, 
taking part in a Council, at which it was resolved to discontinue 
the war, and to have the army broken up, each shifting for him- 
self as best he could, the season being so far advanced that 
they could no longer keep in the open field. Middleton, with a 
few of his officers, resolved upon retiring to the Western Isles, 
while others accompanied Lochiel to Lochaber, whither they 
secretly found their way. Cromwell, now finding that he required 
to direct his attention more to his English subjects, was anxious to 
come to terms with the Scottish Loyalists, intimated to the High- 
land Chiefs, through secret agents, that he would accept their 
submission, and that upon laying down their arms, and returning 
to their homes, they would be restored to their fortunes and 
estates ; and this, in the unpromising nature of their prospects, 
naturally induced many of them to accept terms and give up 
the war, at least until there should appear a better prospect of 
carrying it on more successfully. 

During the winter Lochiel and his guests visited General 
Middleton at Dunvegan Castle, in the Isle of Skye, where the 
General and many of his officers found shelter. Several other 
chiefs also attended, and after long deliberation it was resolved 
that they should all submit, before they were completely ruined, 
finding the King quite unable to support them with men, money, 
or arms. Middleton escaped to France. A few days before he 
left he handed Lochiel a document, in which he recounted his 
services on behalf of the King, especially referring to his 
never having submitted to the enemy, and to his having given 
frequent proofs of his fidelity, courage, and conduct, standing 
out to the very last, notwithstanding all difficulties, concluding 
thus : " And withal, I do hereby allow and desire him to take 
such speedy course for his safety, by capitulation, as he shall see 
fit, seeing inevitable and invincible necessity has forced us to lay 
aside this war, and that I can do nothing else for his advantage." 
The document is signed and sealed " Att Dunvegan, the last day 
of March 1665," by "Middletone." Thus, in the meantime 



ioo THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

ended the war, and we shall next follow our hero into the more 
peaceful paths of diplomacy, a field in which he seems to have 
been as distinguished as in that of war. 

During his absence in the Isle of Skye, the officers at Inver- 
lochy arranged several hunting parties, accompanied by consider- 
able bodies of troops, at first keeping well together when out in 
Lochiel's forest, but as they became better acquainted with the 
ground, and. more assured of their safety in the absence of the 
Chief, they became bolder, and hunted separately. On one 
occasion many of the principal officers from the Castle were out 
for a grand match, each having a small party of soldiers in 
attendance. They agreed to meet at a spot near the garrison, at 
night, and march in together. Lochiel was kept well informed 
of their movements from day to day, and on this occasion he 
divided his men in small parties, with instructions to follow each 
officer's party at a proper distance, until they found a convenient 
opportunity to attack it with success, with the result that most of 
the officers were killed, and the rest taken prisoners. Such a 
loss o his principal officers filled the Governor with sorrow and 
feelings of revenge. The hunting matches were at once stopped. 
He at once adopted means for obtaining intelligence of Lochiel's 
movements through " men of desperate circumstances, whom the 
hopes of gain, and the security of living safe from the prosecutions 
of their defrauded creditors, allured from all parts of the kingdom," 
and formed the nucleus of the village of Fort-William, which, 
our author says, "would have soon increased into a tolerable 
market town in those remote parts, if the restoration of the 
Royal Family had not put a stop to it. It was no great diffi- 
culty for the Governor to find, among such a confluence of des- 
peradoes, many bold, cunning fellows, proper enough for spies 
and intelligencers. Lochiel no sooner met with them, as he 
often did, but he commanded them to be hanged without delay."* 
In consequence of all this, Lochiel was so sharply looked after that 
he soon found it dangerous to remain near the garrison, though 
he had arranged a set of spies of his own, through whom, on 
several occasions, he managed to escape capture. 

Not long after this he called together the principal gentle- 
men of the clan, and intimated to them his intention of giving up 
* Lochiel's Memoirs, p. 139. 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 101 

the war, as every chance of success had entirely vanished, and 
their present mode of life, wandering in the hills, had become 
well-nigh intolerable. He was determined to secure honourable 
terms of peace for himself and for them, and had formed his 
plans accordingly, but he expressed a desire that they should 
trust him with all the details, without in the meantime disclosing 
them. Such was their confidence in him, that they agreed to 
leave everything in his hands, and asked him only to command 
them, and that they would do his bidding and execute his orders. 
He picked out about a hundred from amongst them, and told 
them to be in readiness to join him at any moment. 

He had just received a communication from the Laird of 
MacNaughten, in* Cowal, a near relative of his own, and a 
Loyalist, who had in consequence to live in the hills to escape 
the Marquis of Argyll that three English and one Scotch Colonel 
were surveying the district by orders of General Monk, and that 
if he came with a few brave followers they might easily be 
captured and kept as hostages until he could secure favourable 
terms of surrender. Lochiel was delighted on receiving this intelli- 
gence, and he proceeded with his brave followers, keeping the high 
ground night and day, so as to avoid detection on his march. 
He met MacNaughten at the appointed place, and was informed 
of the whereabouts of the Colonels. They then arranged the 
best plan by which to secure them, after which he marched alone 
with his men, during the night, to a village within four miles of 
Inveraray, where he arrived about one o'clock in the morning. 
He then told his followers the object of his visit, and directed 
them how to proceed. He informed them that at a small inn 
close bye the Colonels lay asleep that night, without any appre- 
hension of danger. " It is probable they may have a sentry at 
the door, and some officers and servants lodged with them in the 
house, and, therefore, to prevent resistance, I have contrived the 
following stratagem, which may be executed quickly, easily, and 
without danger of alarming their guards. The house being built 
of lime and stone it will be no easy matter to break through the 
wall or to force open the door ; we must, therefore, steal softly to 
it, and after seizing the sentry, if there be any, we must each of 
us take hold of the timber or kebbers that support the roof at 
the back side of it, and pulling all at once there will be an open- 



102 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

ing large enough for us all to jump in at the same time, and to 
make every person in the house our prisoners, without distinc- 
tion. If we fail in this we must put fire to the thatch of the 
roof, by which we will either destroy them or become masters of 
their persons. If their guards are alarmed, which is the worst 
that can happen, I expect that you will behave after your 
ordinary manner ; but be sure to make as many prisoners as you 
possibly can, that being the chief thing I presently aim at." The 
plan was successfully carried out, and the four Colonels were 
taken alive. Among them was Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, 
a Highlander, with whom Lochiel had been previously well 
acquainted. They were hurried away in a boat provided and kept 
in readiness by MacNaughten, ferried across to the other side, and 
then marched, without a halt, until Lochiel had them in a place 
of security on his own property. They were perfectly horrified 
on finding themselves in the power of one whom they had learned 
to look upon as a mere savage and blood-thirsty barbarian, but 
his considerate and civil treatment soon induced them to look 
upon him in a very different light. Though their lodgings were 
not of the best, they were otherwise well provided for and enter- 
tained. Their rank was acknowledged, and the only real cause 
of complaint they had was the loss of their personal liberty. 
They were confined on an island in Locharkaig, where they 
secured an ample supply of delicate fish. " At the head of it is a 
large forest of red deer, where there is, besides, great abundance 
of other game. Lochiel, who omitted no civility that he thought 
would add to the pleasure of his guests, carried them to the head 
of the loch in a boat, where he was met by some hundreds of his 
men, whom he had ordered to be convened for that purpose. 
These people, stretching themselves in a line along the hills, soon 
enclosed great numbers of deer, which, having driven to a place 
appointed, they guarded them so closely within the circle which 
they formed round them, that the gentlemen had the pleasure of 
killing them by their broadswords, which was a diversion new and 
uncommon to them." They spent several days in this way re- 
galing themselves with every variety of venison and wild fowl. 
" They were much diverted with the activity and address of the 
Highlanders in all their exercises, and instead of the barbarians 
they were represented to be, they found them a quick and in- 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 103 

genious people, of great vigour and hardiness." They were even 
more pleased with Lochiel himself. His politeness, good sense, 
modesty, and wit ; his vivacity and cheerfulness, and his constant 
anxiety to entertain them, deeply impressed them. They 
strongly urged upon him the propriety of coming to terms with 
the Government, now that he was the only chief in the Highlands 
who held out, urging that he had already gained glory enough in 
the field as well as for his devotion to the exiled dynasty. This 
was the very thing Lochiel desired to bring about ; he, however, 
wanted to be advised and courted into it, but pretended that 
nothing was further from his intentions, saying that no wise man 
would trust himself in the hands of their Protector, " whose whole 
life was one continued scene of rebellion, ambition, hypocrisy, 
avarice, and cruelty." He charged him with all the blood spilt dur- 
ing the Civil Wars, with the murder of the King, and numberless 
other crimes. He would have no dealings with such a man ; for 
" it was still in his power to preserve his conscience and honour 
unstained, and to continue in that innocence, loyalty, and in- 
tegrity of character" which was the duty of an honest man and a 
good subject He, however, in time began to give way, especi- 
ally to the reasoning of his old friend Colonel Campbell, and 
ultimately acknowledged that it might be for his interest and 
that of his people to submit, " provided they could procure 
such articles as would suit with their honour and the ad- 
vantage of their country ; but that for his own part, before 
he would consent to the disarming of himself and his people, 
and to involve them in the horrid guilt of perjury, by 
abjuring the King, his master, and taking oaths to the 
Usurper, that he was resolved to live as an outlaw, a fugitive, 
and a vagabond, without regard to the consequences." To this 
Colonel Campbell replied that, if Lochiel expressed an inclination 
to submit, no oath would be required from himself or from his 
followers ; that he should virtually get terms of his own making ; 
and that he himself would undertake to see the conditions per- 
formed, concluding his appeal with the remark, that the most 
powerful of European monarchs "do not think it below their 
dignity to court our friendship, and yet the chief of a Highland 
clan thinks it a stain upon his honour to embrace the peace and 
friendship that is offered upon terms of his own making." 



104 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Lochiel at last promised to consult his friends, and submit a 
copy of his proposals next day. This he did, and appointed 
Colonel Campbell to carry them to General Monk, when they were 
finally adjusted. Colonel Campbell in due time returned with a 
letter from Monk, dated " Dalkeith, igth May 1665," in which 
the General says, " I have this day agreed upon such articles as I 
shall grant for the coming in of yourself and party, upon the 
powers you gave to Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan Campbell to 
treat for you ... In case you shall declare your approba- 
tion of these articles within fourteen days of the date hereof, I 
am content they shall stand good, and be performed to you, 
otherwise not." Scarcely any alteration was made on the articles 
submitted by Lochiel. The complete details of this remark- 
able treaty cannot now be given, the document itself having been 
burnt, with many other valuable records, in Lochiel's house 
accidentally burnt but the most important conditions contained 
in it may be gathered from General Monk's letters to the Chief 
himself. They were as follows : 

1st. Lochiel, for himself and in name of his whole clan was to submit and to live 
in peace on condition that his Excellency demanded no oaths or other assurances but 
Lochiel's word of honour. 

2nd. That the Chief and all his friends and followers of the Clan Cameron should 
be allowed to carry and use their arms the same as before the war broke out, they be- 
having themselves peacefully, subject to these two conditions ist, That Lochiel's 
train, when he travelled out of the Highlands, should not exceed twelve or fourteen 
armed men, besides his body servants, without a permit from the General, or from his 
successor in that office ; and 2nd, That the gentlemen of the clan should not travel 
anywhere out of their own country with more than a certain number of armed men, to 
which they were limited, and they were not to go from home, armed in company, 
above a restricted number. 

3rd. Lochiel and his clan were to lay down their arms, in the name of Charles II., 
to the Governor of Inverlochy, and take them up again immediately in name of the 
States, without any reference to Cromwell. 

4th. Lochiel bound himself to pay the public burdens, suppress tumults, thefts 
and depredations, from and after the date of the treaty. 

It was agreed that he should receive compensation for the wood 
destroyed and used by the Governor of Inverlochy from the date 
of the agreement. He was also granted a free and full indemnity 
for all riots, depredations, crimes, and everything of the like nature, 
committed by him or by his men during the late wars, and pre- 
ceding the treaty. It was also agreed that reparation should be 
made to such of his clan and following as had suffered anything 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. , 105 

at the hands of the soldiers in garrison ; and he and his tenants 
were discharged of all the cess, tithes, and public burdens which 
they had left unpaid since the war began, but they were to pay 
these, in all time coming. Another article, the eleventh, was 
in regard to the dispute which had so long subsisted between 
Lochiel and Mackintosh. It provided "that the said General 
Monk shall keep the Laird of Lochiel free from any by- 
gone duties to William Macintosh of Torecastle, out of the 
lands pertaining to him in Lochaber (not exceeding the sum 
of five hundred pounds sterling), the said Laird of Lochiel 
submitting to the determination of General Monk, the Marquiss 
of Argyll, and Colonel William Bryan, or any two of them, what 
satisfaction he shall give to Mackintosh for the aforesaid lands in 
time coming." There were, besides, several other articles, all in 
favour of Lochiel. 

The next step was to carry out this important and 
highly honourable treaty within the specified date, and Lochiel 
immediately set his prisoners free, at the same time asking 
them the favour of accompanying him to Inverlochy that they 
might see and testify to his ready and free compliance with at 
least one of the principal clauses of the treaty, in laying down his 
arms. This, in the most agreeable manner, they consented to do. 
Lochiel, having convened all the members of his clan that lived 
within a reasonable distance of the garrison, placed himself at 
their head, and marched to Inverlochy, accompanied by his late 
prisoners. His men were dressed in their usual warlike array ; 
told ofif in companies under command of the chieftains or cap- 
tains of their respective tribes whose place it was to lead them 
in war, all armed, as if marching to battle, with pipes play- 
ing, and colours flying. The Governor marched out all his 
troops to the plain in front of the garrison to meet them, where 
they were placed in proper order. The Camerons drew up in two 
lines in front of the garrison troops. The Governor and Lochiel 
saluted one another; the manner of the ceremony was agreed upon; 
the articles of the treaty were read, amid loud huzzas, with every 
appearance of satisfaction and demonstrations of joy on both 
sides. Lochiel and his men formally laid down their arms in 
name of the King, and immediately took them up in name of 
the States ; a magnificent entertainment was provided for the Chief 
and his principal officers, while his men were supplied with an 



106 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

excellent dinner on the plain where they stood. He would 
not allow his followers to mix with the English for fear that they 
might quarrel and produce fresh disturbance. One of his officers, 
however, had a dispute over the wine with a Lieutenant-Colonel 
Allan, which was afterwards amicably settled by the intervention 
of the Governor. With this single exception the whole proceed- 
ings passed off in the most satisfactory manner. Lochiel wrote 
the same day to General Monk intimating his compliance so far 
with the conditions of the treaty. The General sent for him to 
Dalkeith, whither he started next morning. On his arrival Monk 
expressed his great pleasure at what had been done, and gave 
him a letter to that effect, dated Dalkeith, 5th June 1655. 
Thus a treaty was arranged and carried out between the powerful 
Government of Oliver Cromwell and a Highland chief upon 
terms so highly honourable to the latter as to be scarcely credible 
in the present day. 

Almost immediately after these proceedings had been con- 
cluded, no end of prosecutions were raised against the Camerons 
for offences committed even so far back as the wars of Montrose. 
But General Monk continued Lochiel's friend, and he wrote to 
the Judges desiring them not to move in any actions raised for 
crimes committed prior to his capitulation. It was not long, 
however, before an action was raised against him before the 
Sheriff of Inverness, when Monk procured an order from the 
Privy Council " discharging that judge to sustain process for any 
crime committed preceding the first of June 1655;" and after this 
the Camerons were allowed for many years to live at peace. 
Lochiel received many favours from the Government. Among 
other privileges he secured the management of the public re- 
venues of his district* About this time he turned young 

* " 1st, Lochiel (after he had closed his capitulation with the usurpers) entered into 
so strict a league and friendship with them, that for his cause they divided Lochaber 
and the places adjacent from the Shires of Inverness and Perth, and made the said 
Lochiel both Sheriff, Commissary, Commissioner, and Justice of the Peace of these 
places, who thereby not only enriched himself, but also did the usurpers several good 
offices, by helping to reduce the Highlanders under their obedience : 2nd, He was 
assisted in all lawsuits against Mackintosh by the usurpers. So as Mackintosh and 
his whole kin and friends were forced to deliver their arms to the garrison at Inver- 
ness, but Lochiel and the whole name of Clan Cameron were tolerated to bear arms 
in any part within the kingdom, except only within the garrisons." The True Infor- 
mation of the Respective Deportments of the Lairds of Makintoshe, and of Evan 
Cameron of LofJizictd, in Reference to the Late Unnatiirall Warrs, 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 107 

MacMartin of Letterfinlay out of his property, and forced him 
to leave the country. Old MacMartin and his people sided with 
the Camerons. Monk intervened ; Lochiel arranged with the 
heir of Letterfinlay, whom he ultimately restored to his rights ; 
and the General was so satisfied with his conduct that he con- 
tinued a friendly correspondence with him until the Restoration. 

Lochiel clearly had no great faith in the Presbyterian clergy of 
his day, for, though he was anxious to have a minister placed among 
his people that he " might be of service in reclaiming them," 
yet "the turbulent tempers of the clergymen of these times, 
joined with their stupidity and ignorance, their avarice, pride, 
and cruelty," gave him so bad an opinion of them that he was 
afraid to admit any of them into his country. Ultimately, how- 
ever, he agreed to admit the clergy into Lochaber, the Council 
providing him with eighty pounds yearly for each of two 
parishes. 

Lochiel, now able to live at home in peace, married a young 
lady to whom he had been for some time engaged, Mary, 
daughter of Sir Donald Macdonald, eighth Baron, and first 
Baronet of Sleat The wedding is said to have been memorable 
for its magnificence, and on his return to Lochaber he was enter- 
tained and " complimented by his Clan with a sum equal at least 
to all the charges of that expensive wedding." His biographer 
records an incident, which occurred on the occasion, of so interest- 
ing a nature that we shall reproduce it in his own words : 
" At this meeting he was agreeably entertained by a Highland 
bard, who sung or recited his verses after the manner of the 
ancients, and who inherited no small portion of their spirit and 
simplicity. He laboured under the common misfortune of the 
brotherhood of Parnassus, and came all the way from Braemar, 
or thereabout, to petition for three cows that had been taken from 
him in the late wars. He artfully introduced himself by a pane- 
gyric on the Chief ; and while he magnified his power, he in- 
geniously complimented his Clan, whose friendship and protection 
he begged. He made frequent mention of those qualities 
that were most favourable for his purpose, with cunning 
enough; for as pity, generosity, and compassion are virtues 
inseparable from great souls, so they answered his aim in open- 
ing the hearts of those whom he petitioned. The poem is 
written in a strong, nervous, and masculine style, abounding with 



io8 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

thoughts and images drawn from such simple objects as he had 
either seen or occasionally heard of ; but expressed in a manner 
peculiar to the emphasis and genius of the Gaelic, for he under- 
stood no other language. Here is no ostentation of learning, no 
allusions to ancient fable or mythology, no far-fetched similes, 
nor dazzling metaphors brought from imaginary or unknown 
objects. These are the affected ornaments of modern poetry, 
and are more properly the issue of art and study, than of nature 
and genius. But the beauty of this consists in that agreeable 
simplicity, in that glow of imagination and noble flame of fancy, 
which give life and energy to such compositions." Our author 
gives an English translation of the poem, which, he says, no more 
resembles the original " than the naked and disfigured carcase of 
a murdered hero does a living one in full vigour and spirit ; for 
the Gaelic has all the advantages of an original language. It is 
concise, copious, and pathetic ; and as one word of it expresses 
more than three of ours, so it is well-known how impossible it is 
to preserve the full force and energy of a thought or image in 
a tedious circumlocution." We regret being unable, for want 
of space, to give the English version. It by no means lacks 
" vigour and energy," and we shall print it in " The History of the 
Camerons," when publishing it in a separate form. The English 
extends to no less than seventy-six lines of vigorous verse, and 
if the Gaelic original was so far superior to it as our authority 
would have us believe it must have been a very highly successful 
effort indeed. 

Macaulay, who can never be fairly charged with undue 
praise to his Highland countrymen in his History of England, 
refers to this poem, and the occasion of it, in the following terms. 
Of Lochiel, whom he describes as the " Ulysses of the High- 
lands," and of it he says " As a patron of literature, he ranks 
with the magnificent Dorset. If Dorset, out of his own purse, 
allowed Dryden a pension equal to the profits of the Laureateship, 
Lochiel is said to have bestowed on a celebrated bard, who had 
been plundered by marauders, and who implored alms in a pathetic 
Gaelic ode, three cows and the almost incredible sum of fifteen 
pounds sterling." We shall next follow the famous chief through, 
perhaps, the most interesting period of his career, from the 
Restoration to the Revolution. 

(To be continued.) 



109 



THE HIGHLAND BAGPIPE. 



" Will you play upon this pipe ? 
Give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse 
Most eloquent music." 

HAMLET Act iii., Scene 2. 

IT is not proposed to give in this article a description of the con- 
struction of the bagpipe, but merely a short sketch of its history, 
gleaned from a variety of sources, the principal among these 
being Logan's invaluable work. Dion Chrysostom, a Greek 
writer, informs us that the Emperor Nero played upon the flute, 
with a leather bladder under his arm. This, undoubtedly, was a 
primitive form of bagpipe, and it is said that its music afforded 
the Emperor great pleasure. It was called tibia utricularius by 
the Romans. Nero had the figure of a man playing upon this 
instrument impressed upon several of his coins, a few of which 
are still in existence. There is also preserved in the Palace of 
Santa Croce at Rome, a fine Greek marble, upon which is repre- 
sented, in basso relievo, a man playing upon something strongly 
resembling a bagpipe. The Roman Catholic Church has gathered 
round itself some strange traditions, but perhaps the most curi- 
ous of all is, that the shepherds who first received the news of 
Christ's birth, signified their joy by playing a salute upon the 
bagpipe, and Albrecht Durer, the great engraver, has worked out 
this idea in a woodcut of the " Nativity." In the library of 
King's College, Old Aberdeen, there is an old Dutch missal, the 
illuminator of which has actually ventured to pourtray one of 
the appearing angels playing upon that instrument. 

The introduction of the bagpipe into Scotland is a point 
which has given rise to much discussion. In a book entitled the 
" National Music of Ireland," by Michael Conran, it is said that 
the Romans took it from the Greeks, and afterwards introduced 
it into Scotland, where, from its warlike sound, it was quickly 
adopted by the people, who used it as an incentive to battle ; and 
it soon became the national instrument of Caledonia. 

In the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 
for 1879-80, we are told that in 1362 forty shillings was paid to 



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the King's pipers, and mention is also made in that work of a set 
of bagpipes belonging to Mr Robert Glen, bearing date 1409. 
James I. of Scotland writes in his " Peblis to the Play" as 
follows : 

"The bagpype blew and they outhrew 

Out of the townis untald, 
Lord, sic ane schout was thame among 
Quhen their were owre the wald." 

And again, in the same poem : 

" With that Will Swane come sueitand out, 

Ane meikle miller man, 
Gif I sail dance have done, lat se 
Blaw up the bag-pyp than." 

In 1 598, the then minister of Logic wrote, in a poem on the fate 
of the Spanish Armada : 

" Cans michtelie the weirlie nottes breike, 
On Heiland pipes, Scottes and Hybernicke." 

After the Reformation, the Scottish Reformers held the bag- 
pipe to be the devil's own musical instrument, and in consequence 
pipers were severely persecuted, especially from 1570 to 1624. 
In the Highlands, however, where scarcely any other music was 
known, the bagpipe was esteemed highly, and the tail of no chief 
was complete without the piper and the piper's servant, the 
former of whom was higher in rank than any of the other re- 
tainers, and was entitled to the name of a gentleman. Logan 
gives a number of very good anecdotes of pipers, one or two of 
which we may be permitted to give. At a dinner given by a Mr 
Thomas Grant at Cork, several years ago, MacDonell, the famous 
North of Ireland piper, was sent for to entertain the company. Al- 
though MacDonell was quite entitled to a place at the dinner-table, 
the master of the house had a table and chair placed for him on the 
landing, outside the room. A bottle of claret and a glass were put 
on the table, and a servant stood behind the chair. MacDonell 
arrived, looked at the refreshment set apart for him, rilled up a 
glass of claret, stepped to the door of the room where the company 
were assembled, said, "Mr Grant, your health and company!" 
and drank it off. He then threw half-a-crown upon the little 
table, saying to the servant, " There, my lad, is two shillings for 
my bottle of wine, and sixpence for yourself," and he immediately 



THE HIGHLAND BAGPIPE in 

ran down stairs, mounted his horse, and rode off, followed by his 
groom. 

At one time a Captain of the 42nd Highlanders had re- 
ceived instructions from headquarters to provide a drummer for 
his company, in addition to the customary piper. In obedience 
to this order a drummer was soon procured, and he took his 
place beside the rival musician. Here, however, came the tug- 
of-war, for each wanted to be on the right hand of the other, 
and a heated dispute arose between them. Ultimately, to avoid 
a hand-to-hand fight, the Captain interfered, and, after hearing 
both parties, decided the knotty point in favour of the drummer. 
This decision injured the feelings of the piper so much that he 
exclaimed, with unfeigned disgust, " The devil, sir, and shall a 
little rascal that beats upon a sheepskin take the right hand of 
me, who am a musician ?" 

At the battle of Vimiera, while the /ist were gallantly 
charging the enemy, one of their pipers was disabled by a bullet 
in the leg. Unable to advance any further, he sat down upon 
the ground, and arranging his pipes, shouted out as the final 
columns swept past him, " Weel, lads, I'm sorry I can gae nae 
further wi" ye, but de'il hae ma saul gin ye sail want music,' and 
immediately struck up a lively pibroch, thinking more of his 
comrades' glorious charge than of his own wound. 

After the suppression of the Rising in 1745, a great number 
of pipers belonging to the Prince's army were taken prisoners, 
and at their trial they invariably urged in defence that they had 
not borne arms against the House of Hanover. But the Govern- 
ment acted in no spirit of mercy at that time ; the bagpipe was 
declared an instrument of war ! and the poor pipers in many 
cases paid a heavy penalty for their loyalty to a fallen House. 

The bagpipe still continues, and we hope will long continue, 
to be the national musical instrument of Scotland ; and at 
all our Highland gatherings at home and abroad, its music 
occupies the most prominent place. The power which pipe- 
music has over the minds of Highlanders in every part of the 
world is well known, and a piper is very often engaged in autumn 
to play in the harvest field for the purpose of cheering and en- 
couraging the reapers in their work. Every Highland regiment 
has its company of pipers, and in time of war their thrilling 



ii2 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

music has almost invariably struck terror into the hearts of the 
foe, who knew full well that in a few moments the red line of 
kilted heroes, with waving feathers and tartans, and gleaming 
bayonets, would spread carnage and dismay among their ranks. 
Amid the din of the battle, high above the roar of artillery, the 
rattle of musketry, and the shouts of the combatants, is still 
heard the triumphant sound of the bagpipe, leading the Highland 
regiments to victory or a glorious death, like the exultant scream 
of the mountain eagle, as he swoops down with unerring aim 
upon his quarry. It was the bagpipe that cheered the hearts of 
the beleaguered British in the Residency of Lucknow, as the 
gallant Havelock and his brave Highlanders marched through a 
storm of shot to the relief of their countrymen ; and it was the 
bagpipe that led the Highlanders over the parapet at Tel-el- 
Kebir, to put to flight the swarthy legions of Egypt. 
Long may it exist to lead Highlanders to victory ! 

H. R. M. 



SUTHERLAND EVICTIONS AND BURNINGS. 
TESTIMONY OF LIVING EYE-WITNESSES (Continued), 



WIDOW JOHN MUNRO, Strathy, go years of age. 

I am over ninety years of age. I was born in Rhihalvaig, a small township on 
the east side of Lochnaver. The families in the place were those of my grandfather, 
William Mackay, and of Roderick Macleod, and Robert Mackay. There were no 
middlemen above Achness. All the townships elected men to go with their rents 
to Golspie ; and the last mentioned crofter lost a son, Donald Mackay, while on his 
way to Dunrobin with the rents of the village. He perished in a wreath of snow at 
the back of Ben-Clebrig. He refused to delay going till the storm would abate, lest 
he might be too late in arriving with the rents of the township. 

We were removed to make room for Marshall, and my father got a croft in 
Badanchavag, above Mudale, where we lived for some years till we were evicted the 
second time to make room for Sellar. I viewed from the side of Ben-Hee, the 
smoke of the houses burning at Grumb-mhor and Grumb-bheag. The distance would 
be about ten miles. These townships were evicted before the heights, where we lived, 
were cleared. In this last place we had not much arable land, but kept a large stock 
as our hill pasture was extensive. 

The rent we paid was ,5 sterling, and we found no difficulty in paying it. I 
remember that on one particular occasion, the expenditure we had lo meet between 
groceries, rent, etc., amounted exactly to ,20. My father, having gone to the hill 
with a cattle-dealer, returned in the evening and told my mother that since he had 



SUTHERLAND EVICTIONS. 113 

left he got by selling only horses, and a cow, what would meet this expenditure, " and 
one pound for snuff to the bargain." MRS JOHN MUNRO. 

Witnesses, ( ADAM GUNN, Student, Strathy. 
20th Aug. 1883. | JOHN MACKAY, Strathy. 

ROBERT MACKAY, Strathy, regarding Rhinnirie. 

I was about seven years of age when the township was burnt. When Sellar's 
men arrived, my father and mother happened to be in Caithness-shire, laying down 
the crops in Latheron, which was to be their future home. An old woman, my aunt, 
remained with me and my sister at Strathnaver. We began early in the day to re- 
move our effects to the hill-side, in anticipation of their visit ; but, before we had 
finished, they were upon us, and set fire, first, to the byre which was attached to the 
dwelling-house. This made us redouble our efforts, as the flames were making rapid 
progress. I remember we encountered serious difficulty when we came to remove the 
meal-chest. To ask the assistance of Sellar's men would be absurd ; but we succeeded 
at last by removing the meal in small quantities to the hill-side on blankets. We then 
made a ring of the furniture, and took our station inside, from which we viewed the 
flames. Here we slept all night, wrapped in woollen blankets, of which we had 
plenty; and I remember very vividly the volumes of flame issuing from our dwelling- 
house, and the crackling sounds when the flames seized upon the fir couples and 
timber supporting the roof of turf. At the same time, also the three remaining houses 
in the township were fired. 

I declare this statement of mine is true. ROBERT MACKAY. 

Witnesses, I ADAM GUNN, Student, Strathy. 
20th Aug. 1883. | ROBERT MACKAY, Strathy. 

GEORGE MACKAY, 80 years of age, crofter, Airdneskich, Farr. 
I was born at Ridsary on Strathnaver, and was about 16 years of age when that 
part of the Strath where my father lived was depopulated, and our habitations burnt to 
the ground. I saw these four townships all in flames on the same day : 



Ceann-na-coille, with 7 houses 



Syre, with 13 houses. 



Kidsary, with 2 houses Langall, with 8 houses. 

I saw in all thirty houses burning at the same time. 

When this was taking place, I was leading two horses up the Strath, to carry from 
Kidsary some of our furniture, which was left by my father near the place, when we 
were evicted from our home a few days previous to this. As the houses were all 
covered with dry thatch, dwelling places and steadings, the crackling noise as well as 
the fire and smoke were awful. I noticed one house at Langall, having a good stack 
of peats beside it, which the burning party, on coming round, put to the same fate as 
the houses, and if any other thing remained in or near the premises it was at once 
consigned to the flames. 

It may be mentioned that the inhabitants left these houses a day or two before 
they were, set on fire, being ordered off the ground by Sellar. It was heartrending to 
hear the cries of the women and children when leaving their happy homes, and turn- 
ing their faces they knew not whither. The most of our cattle died the first winter, 
as we had no provision for them. We got no compensation for our burnt houses, nor 
any aid to build new ones, or trench land. 

I declare this statement of mine is true. GEORGE MACKAY. 

Witnesses I ALEXANDER GRAHAM. 

3oth Aug. 1883. I MURDO MACKAY, Student. 

G 



ii 4 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

WILLIAM MACKAY (Ban), 80 years of age, army pensioner and crofter, Achina, Farr. 

I am a native of Rossal on Strathnaver, and now living at Achina. One morn- 
ing in May, when I was about twelve years of age, I went up to Achcaoilnaborgin to 
see Sellar's party putting the houses in that township on fire, as I, like a child, 
thought it grand fun to see the houses burning. The burning party was under the 
leadership of one Branders. When I reached the place the houses were ablaze, and 
I waited till they were all burnt to the ground, six in number. Then I accompanied 
the burners to Achinlochy, where six more houses were reduced to ashes. 

In one of these houses I saw an old man, Donald Mackay (Mac William), who 
was over 100 years of age, lying in bed. Branders and his men, on coming to this 
house, glanced at the old man in bed, and then set fire to the house in two or three 
places, and the poor man, who could not escape, was left by them to the tender mer- 
cies of the flames. The cries of the sufferer attracted the attention of his friends, 
who, at their own peril, ran in and rescued him from a painful death. It can be said 
with certainty that the terror and the effect of the fire on his person tended to hasten 
the man's death. 

I may state that I have travelled a large portion of the four quarters of the globe, 
lived among heathens and barbarians, where I saw many cruel scenes, but never wit- 
nessed such revolting cruelty as I did on Strathnaver, except one case in the rebellion 
of Canada. 

I knew Donald Macleod, the author of " The Gloomy Memoirs of Sutherland," 
to be honest and truthful, and what I read in his book was nothing but the simple truth. 

I declare this statement of mine is true. WILLIAM MACKAY. 

Witnesses, I WILLIAM CAMPBELL. 
3oth Aug. 1883. I MURDO MACKAY. 

ANGUS MACKAY, 89 years of age, crofter, Leadnagiullan, Farr. 

I spent twenty-three years on Strathnaver, in my birthplace Ceann-na-coille, and I 
am confident they were the happiest days I ever spent. We were very happy and 
comfortable on the Strath. 

There were seven houses in Ceann-na-coille, which I, with a sad heart, saw burnt 
to the ground. I saw Rossal, with upwards of twenty houses, also burnt. Sellar's 
orders to the people were to have their furniture, and whatever else they wished to 
bring with them, removed from these townships before a certain day. My friends, 
and several of the townspeople endeavoured to obey this cruel summons, and carried 
their effects down to the river's side. Here they formed a kind of raft, whereon was 
placed all their furniture, farm implements, clothes, etc., in fact all their worldly 
possessions, except their cattle. Then they took shelter, and anxiously awaited the 
rising of the river to enable them to float the raft down the stream towards their new 
home. 

Soon, however, the furious burners came, and in spite of the poor people's en- 
treaties and promises, the raft was easily set on fire, and before the party left the 
ground it was all in ashes along the banks of the river. 

Nor did the ruthless work of Sellar's party end here. They now turned their 
course to the township of Baclinleathaid, and there commenced the burning again. In 
a certain hut there, there was an old woman who, perhaps, had none of her friends 
alive, or at least at hand, to be of any help to her in the hour of need. The party 
came to the hut of this friendless woman, set fire to the house, and instantly marched 
off, leaving the poor decrepit woman, who was within the house, to burn. It is true 



SUTHERLAND EVICTIONS. 115 

the woman's body was taken out by some neighbours who, too late, knew what was 
taking place, but death relieved her from pain ere they carried her across the thres- 
hold of her burning house. 

I was well acquainted with Donald Macleod, who wrote " The Gloomy Memoirs 
of Sutherland," and always found him to be a truthful man. I heard some parts of 
his book read, and can emphatically say from my own experience, which now extends 
over a period of eighty-nine years, that it states the truth. Macleod only wrote what 
hundreds could testify to ten years ago, but now almost all the people who knew much 
about the Strathnaver cruelties are dead, and the young generation, though they have 
heard of these things from the lips of their fathers, cannot testify to them as eye-wit- 
nesses could. People now-a-days cannot imagine the awful cruelties perpetrated on 
Strathnaver by Sellar and his minions. 

I declare this statement of mine is true. ANGUS MACKAY. 

Witnesses, ( ANN MACKAY. 
2gth Aug. 1883. \ MURDO MACKAY. 

HUGH MACDONALD, 83 years of age, fisherman and merchant > Armadale, Farr. 

I was born in Dal-Langall, near Strathy, but went when a young boy to Achness, 
on Strathnaver, to live with an aunt of mine. I remained in Achness till some time 
in the beginning of the year 1810. I was then about ten years of age. I then came 
down to the foot of the Strath, where I stayed some time. 

I am not aware of seeing any of the houses on Strathnaver actually burning, 
though the people who were pouring down the Strath from time to time always told 
of the awful scenes enacted up. That the houses were burnt I have not the least 
doubt ; but I cannot speak as an eye-witness. I remember one morning, when on 
my way to school, seeing a very thick smoke blown by the wind 7 down the Strath, 
which I was told arose from the burning houses up that way. Next day I heard that 
some boats which had been to sea fishing that evening lost their course while making 
for the Inver-Naver bay, owing to the denseness of the smoke. I know that hundreds 
of families were turned off Strathnaver by Sellar and his gang, and that their land 
was formed into a sheep farm for Sellar. By these means he got a farm over forty 
miles long. 

The people were very happy on the Strath, and very obedient to their superiors 
in fact, " ower simple ;" that was how they were turned away so easily. I am sure 
the present generation would have fought and died sooner than suffer such cruelties. 
Old as I am myself, I think I would be disposed to fight. 

I declare this statement of mine is true. HUGH MACDONALD. 

Witnesses, J WILLIAM M'DONALD. 
29th Aug. 1883. I MURDO MACKAY. 

( To be continued.) 



SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. Mr Alexander Macbain, 
M.A., author of the valuable papers on "Celtic Mythology," appearing in these 
pages, was, last month, elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 



u6 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE, 

ANCIENT CELTIC TENURES. 
BY H. C. MACANDREW, PROVOST OF INVERNESS. 



IN the earliest condition of our race of which we have any know- 
ledge, the only bond of union between men was blood relationship. 
Every man was to every other a blood relation or an enemy. The 
earliest political organisation was the tribe, a number of families 
associated together for defence and other purposes, and bound to- 
gether by their belief in a common ancestor. When, however, 
the tribe ceased to be a wandering body, and settled on some fixed 
and defined area as its permanent residence, and still more when 
it ceased to be entirely pastoral, and commenced to till the land, 
it is obvious that a new relation of man to man was created, and 
the foundation laid of a great revolution in the idea as to what 
constituted the bond of social and political union. How great a 
revolution has taken place we may see when we consider how, in 
civilised communities, common residence in the same place has 
come to be regarded as almost the only foundation of political 
organisation when we consider, for instance, the readiness with 
which the crowds of various races who are annually pouring into 
the United States become Americans. The tribal or race idea 
has, however, always died hard, as we shall see later on when we 
come to consider the condition of the Scottish Highlands and in 
Eastern and Central Europe, it is a question of moment at the 
present time whether the inhabitants are not to break up into 
new states and associate themselves according to real or supposed 
community of race. 

The relation which a people once settled on, and perman- 
ently occupying land, bore to that land, and the change which 
the mode of the use and occupation of it produced in their re- 
lations to each other, and in their social and political organisa- 
tion, must always be questions of the greatest interest to the 
student of history. And there is nothing that strikes one more 
than the circumstance that the further we trace back the history 
of the various families of the Aryan race, the stronger becomes 
the similarity of their laws and customs, the stronger the evi- 
dence that they are a common family. Whether in the Hindoo 



ANCIENT CELTIC TENURES. 117 

village community of the present day we see an organisation to 
which our remote ancestors were accustomed before they left 
the cradle of the race and the traditions of which they carried 
with them in their wanderings, is a question which cannot yet be 
answered ; but it certainly is very remarkable how, in all families 
of the race, communities remarkably similar uniformly developed 
themselves. To trace any of the land systems of the European 
nations to their source, and to consider their relations to each 
other, is, however, a subject too wide for this paper, and what I 
purpose to do at present is to consider the system of land tenure 
in this country and in Ireland at the time when we first have any 
authentic history of these countries, to endeavour to describe the 
stage at which it had then arrived, and to glance shortly at the 
survivals of the system which we still have in our own country. 
This enquiry, limited as it is, is especially interesting on these 
grounds, that long after the contact of the Saxons with the 
Roman organisation, which they found in England, had pro- 
duced the manorial system, and after the fusion of the Roman 
and barbarian systems on the Continent had produced the feudal 
system, Scotia, as Ireland was then called, and Albyn remained 
almost entirely unaffected by any foreign influence, and con- 
tinued to develop in their own way, and that there remains to us 
a great body of the customary law of the peoples which inhabited 
these countries. 

At the time of which I write, Ireland and Scotland (Scotland 
or Albyn at that time being the country north of the Firths of 
Forth and Clyde) were inhabited by two races the Picts and 
the Scots. The Picts inhabited all Scotland and the North of 
Ireland, and the Scots the rest of Ireland there being, probably 
in both countries, and certainly in Ireland, considerable survivals 
of earlier races. I accept the theory that both these peoples were 
of kindred race, and that they spoke dialects of the same 
language. This I know is disputed, but whether it is true or not, 
I think that there can be no doubt that at the time the Irish 
were converted to Christianity the people of the two countries 
had much intercourse, and the same political and social organ- 
isation ; and I accept the picture of that organisation as given 
in the Brehon Laws as equally applicable to both. 

The Brehon Laws are singularly interesting and valuable, in 



ii8 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

as much as they profess to be not a system of law enacted by a 
legislature, but a record of the customary law of the people 
handed down from the remotest antiquity. They are called the 
Brehon Laws, because they were preserved and administered by a 
hereditary caste of lawyers called Brehons, who seem to have 
taken the place in Christian times which the Druids occupied in 
heathen times, and who were the judges and arbitrators of the 
tribes. What we know of these laws is derived from a number 
of manuscript tracts preserved in various libraries in Ireland, and 
a number of which have recently been translated and published. 
None of the manuscripts are older, I believe, than the I3th 
century, but as they all give the text of the laws followed by 
glosses, commentaries, and explanations, it is evident that the 
laws are older than the manuscripts. The most important of the 
tracts which has been published is the Seanchus M6r, and in it 
it is stated that the laws which it contains were compiled and 
written down in the time of St Patrick, and there can be no 
doubt that these tracts represent the customary law of the people 
as it existed at or about the time of the introduction of Christi- 
anity. They continued to be the law of Ireland beyond the pale, 
until they were abrogated by a decision of the Irish Supreme 
Court in the time of James the Sixth of Scotland and First of 
England and Ireland. 

These laws nowhere contain any description of a system of 
land tenure, and what the system of land rights was which 
existed at the time they represent is only to be gathered from 
what may be almost called incidental references. These are not 
at all times easily to be reconciled, and accordingly very opposite 
opinions have been formed as to the state of matters represented. 
Some writers contend that under these laws the land continued 
the common property of the tribe, and was periodically divided 
among the free tribesmen ; others maintain that they exhibit a 
state of things in which there existed all the elements of the 
Feudal System, while others, and I think correctly, hold that 
they represent society as in a transition state, the customs repre- 
sented in some of the tracts being older than those represented 
in others. 

The political unit, according to these laws, was the tuath. 
This word originally, I believe, meant a tribe, and afterwards it 



ANCIENT CELTIC TENURES. 119 

came to mean the territory possessed and occupied by a tribe. 
Over the tuath in Ireland was the Ri-tuath or king. Next 
above the tuath was the Mor-tuath or great tuath, embracing 
several tuaths, with its Ri-Mor-tuath. Above that the provincial 
king, and over him the Ard-righ, or supreme king of Ireland. In 
Scotland the ruler of the tuath was called the Toseich or Toiseach, 
the next in rank above him was the Mormaer ruling a province, 
and above these were the kings of the northern and southern 
Picts, ruling, the one at Inverness and the other at Scone. 

It is in the internal organisation of the tuath, however, that, 
as might be expected, we find traces of the actual relation of the 
tribesmen to the land. And when we examine this, we find the 
tribe divided into a number of grades or ranks, the Fer-midba, or 
lowest grade of free tribesmen ; the Bo-aires or cow-lords, of whom 
there were several classes, and whose rank was derived from their 
wealth in cattle ; the Aire-desa, of whom also there were several 
grades, whose rank was derived from the possession of land, up 
to the tanist, or elected successor to the king, and the king him- 
self. The office of king was not hereditary, the law which 
regulated it being that of tanistry. By this law or custom a 
successor was always elected to the king in his lifetime, and was 
called the tanist. To each of these there was apportioned a part 
of the tribe land as deis or mensal land, and this land always 
passed to their successors undivided. Here, then, is a first indica- 
tion of separate property in land and succession to it, although at 
first at least the title was official. The Aire-desa, as I have said, 
took their rank from the possession of deis or property in land. 
They were of the same grade or class as the king and tanist, 
being chiefs or flaths, and the distinctions in rank among them 
consisted in the number of ceile or tenants whom they had on 
their land. Thus the Aire-desa simply, or lowest grade, had ten 
ceiles, five bond and five free, while the Aire-forgaile, who ranked 
next to the tanist, had forty ceiles, twenty bond and twenty free. 
The Bo-aire possessed a house and homestead, and he seems also 
to have had a certain definite portion of land allotted to him, for 
it is stated that when a Bo-aire possessed the land which had been 
possessed by his father and his grandfather, then he became an 
Aire-desa. The relation which these Aires bore to their tenants 
seems to have been as follows and it strongly indicates to what 



120 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

an extent the ideas arising out of the purely pastoral state of the 
tribe still existed: In addition to giving to his ceiles the use 
of land, the Aire or Flath also gave them a stock of cattle, 
and for these they rendered certain services and homage, and 
in the case of bond tenants, paid him in kind a food-rent, and 
the number of cattle which he gave to his ceiles; and the food- 
rent and services which he received from them in return, were 
regulated according to the rank of the Aire. What the exact 
distinction between the free ceiles and the bond ceiles was it is 
very difficult to learn. It was probably this, that the free ceile 
had stock of his own, as well as the stock which he received from 
his chief, and could terminate the contract with his chief at any 
time; while, on the other hand, the bond ceile received all his 
stock from the chief, and was bound at least for a certain number 
of years. It seems clear, however, that the bond ceile was a 
tribesman, and had certain tribal rights, and was in no sense a 
serf or bound to the soil. Of serfdom, or villenage, as it existed 
in England, and afterwards in the portions of Scotland which 
submitted to Saxon customs, there appears to be no trace in 
Celtic law. 

In addition to the ceiles or tribal tenants, there were two 
other classes who appear to have lived on the land of the chiefs 
in a state of more or less dependence the cottars or Bothacks, 
and the Fuidir. The former appear to have been poor tribesmen, 
and the latter were broken men and strangers from other tribes 
whom the chiefs took into their service and settled on their land 
as tenants-at-will. The service required of them, and their con- 
dition, is thus described : " A Fuidir tenant is of this kind 
however great the thing may be which is required of him, he 
must render it, or return the stock or quit the land, and how- 
ever long he may have been in the service he must quit the land 
at length." Even this class, however, after nine generations, be- 
came free, and entitled to the rights of tribesmen. In the case 
of the flaths or chiefs, the contracting of the relation of ceileship 
was voluntary, but in the case of the Ri or King it was not. 
Every tribesman even the flath was bound to take stock from 
his king, and thus to become bound to do him service and hom- 
age ; and the Ri-tuath was bound to take it from the Ri-M6r- 
tuath, and so upwards ; and in some tuaths we are told that 



ANCIENT CELTIC TENURES. 121 

there were no flaths holding ceiles under them, but that all took 
stock from the Ri or King. 

The classes of whom we have been treating, the Aires, were 
the privileged classes of the tribe, the Bo-aires being the lowest in 
rank who possessed full political rights ; that is, who were entitled 
to be witnesses and compurgators, to be sureties, to sue, and to 
make contracts ; but it must be obvious that there must have 
been large numbers of men who were members of the tribe who 
were below the privileged classes, and it becomes most interest- 
ing to enquire what relation they bore to the land. It seems 
quite clear that every free tribesman had a right to a share of 
the tribe land. We read that the Corns-feine law or Sept law 
" divides the land among the natural tribesmen ;" and again it 
is asked, what is the Corns-feine law ? And the answer is, among 
other things, " tillage in common " Again we read of the Aire- 
echtai, who was the representative of a community of five or 
more persons possessing among them the wealth sufficient to 
constitute an Aire, and who associated themselves together in 
order that they might be so represented, or who were, perhaps, 
associated in this way for purposes of taxation, and military and 
other services. It is particularly to be remarked, too, that this class 
were ranked among the landed class or flaths, and that they 
were elected and held office for a time only. Thus, in one of the 
tracts we read as follows : " The true knowledge of a flath, viz., 
a flath from a Deis to a King. How many grades of distinc- 
tion are these divided into? Seven. Which are they? Aire- 
desa, Aire-echtai," and so on ; and again, " Aire-desa, why so 
called ? Because of the fact that it is according to his property 
in land that his Dire is regulated. Not so the Bo-aire, it is 
according to his cows his Dire is regulated." And again, "Aire- 
echtai, why so called ? Because it is the Aire of five men, he is 
assigned to perform his function, to enforce the observance of the 
peace for a month." 

At the time we are treating of, a very powerful factor in the 
national development had been introduced into Ireland, and 
afterwards from Ireland into Scotland, viz., the Christian Church. 
At a very early period, and before the mission of Saint Columba 
to the Northern Picts, the Celtic Church had become monastic 
in its organisation that is to say, its clergy principally consisted 



122 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

of communities of monks living together, and owning land 
granted to them by the King's Mormaers, or Toiseachs. Of such 
grants the examples are numerous, but it may be sufficient to 
quote one, which is all the more interesting that its place is the 
East of Scotland, and that the record of it is the earliest example 
of written Scottish Gaelic which has yet been discovered. The 
book in which it occurs is itself a part of the Service Book of the 
Monastery of Deer, in Buchan, and contains the Gospel of Saint 
John, and parts of the other gospels, in Latin ; and part of an 
office for the visitation of the sick, in Gaelic ; and, on the mar- 
gins, records of the various gifts to the Monastery, commencing 
with the legend of the foundation, which I may read. 

Columcille and Drostan, son of Cosgrach, his pupil, came from I (font), as God 
had shown to them unto Abbordoboir, and Bcde the Pict was Mormaer of Buchan 
before them, and it was he that gave them that town in freedom for ever from Mor- 
maer and Tosech. They came after that to the other town, and it was pleasing to 
Columcille because it was full of God's grace, and he asked of the Mormaer, to wit Bede, 
that he should give it to him, and he did not give it ; and a son of his took an illness 
after refusing the clerics and he was nearly dead. After this the Mormaer went to 
entreat the clerics that they should make prayer for the son that health should come 
to him, and he gave in offering to them from Cloch in tiperat to Cloch pitte mic 
Garnait. They made the prayer, and' health came to him. After that Columcille gave 
to Drostan that town, and blessed it, and left as his word, " Whosoever should come 
against it let him not be many yeared or victorious." Drostan's tears (deara) came in 
parting with Columcille. Said Columcille let Dear be its name henceforward. 

There are records of similar grants down to the time of King 
David I., to whom the book was produced in evidence of the 
rights of the monks, and who confirmed these rights. 

The picture, then, which we have of the condition of a tuath, 
or tribe territory, at the time which we are considering, seems to 
be this : The land was divided into (first) the Mensal lands of 
the kings, and, in some cases, of the inferior chiefs, who had 
established septs ; (second) into land possessed as property by 
the Flaths, and occupied partly by themselves, as demesne lands 
cultivated by Bothacks and Fuidirs, and partly by their Ceiles, 
whether bond or free ; (third) the land granted to the church 
and occupied by the monastic community, and tilled partly by 
them, and partly by their Ceiles, Bothacks, and Fuidirs ; (foiirth) 
the common tribe land, to which every free tribesman had a 
right ; and (fifth) the waste land of the tribe, over which all the 
members of the tribe had a common right of pasturage, the num- 
ber of cattle or other stock which they were entitled to graze being 



ANCIENT CELTIC TENURES. 123 

apparently regulated by their rank in the tribe. The common tribe 
land was probably divided periodically. As population increased 
new portions of the waste and unoccupied land would naturally 
be appropriated to the common occupation, and, as I take it, this 
land would be mainly occupied by communities of families living 
together in a sort of co-partnery, dividing the arable land among 
them at stated intervals, and regulating the division, perhaps, 
according to the varying number of families ; and having an 
elective head man to represent them in the assemblies of the 
tribe, to make contracts for them, and to be witness, surety, 
suitor, and defendant for them in law-suits points to which 
apparently very great importance were attached. 

The tie which bound the inhabitants of these territories 
together was certainly first tribal the belief that they were all 
of one kindred but second, there were . certain tributes and 
services which each tribesman seems to have owed, either in 
virtue of his membership of the tribe, or of his consequent 
possession of a part of the tribe land. These services were 
mainly four First, a certain tribute in kind, which, in Ireland 
was called bestighi, or house tax, in Scotland cain or can. 
Second, the right of the chief or lord to entertainment for 
himself and his followers in the house of his tenant for so many 
nights in the year. This, in Ireland, was called coshering, and 
in Scotland conventh, or cuddicht. There are numerous rules 
in the Brehon laws intended to prevent the abuse of this right, 
and prescribing the number of followers for which each rank was 
entititled to demand entertainment, and the kind of entertain- 
ment they were entitled to receive. Thus, of one rank it is 
provided that his feeding is to be " new milk and groats, and of 
corn meal and butter on Sunday. He is entitled to seasoned 
fowl, dulesc (that is dulse), onions, and salt." Of another that 
his company is seven, and that he " gets butter, with condiments, 
and bacon and ale, and new milk, for he is entitled to them on 
the second, on third, on fifth, on ninth, on tenth, on Sunday." The 
third and fourth services were attendance on the king on internal 
and external expeditions, and assistance at building his dun or 
fort. When there were intermediate chiefs they appear to have 
been responsible to the king for the services of all those living 
under them. 

(To be continued.) 



124 

CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 
BY ALEXANDER MACBAIN, M.A., F.S.A. SCOT. 

IX. THE GAELIC GODS IN HISTORY. 

MATERIAL for reconstructing the Olympus of the Gaels is not at 
all so scanty as we have found it to be in the case of the Welsh. 
There is, it is true, no general description of the Irish Olympus, 
but references to particular deities are not uncommon. The 
earliest reference to any Irish gods occurs in one of the oldest 
monuments we possess of the Gaelic language ; a manuscript of 
the St Gall Monastery contains incantations to the powers Dian- 
cecht and Goibniu. This manuscript Zeuss sets down as of the 
eighth century, and it is, therefore, eleven hundred years old. 
Cormac's glossary, originally composed in the ninth century, 
mentions as deities Art, Ana, Buanann, Brigit, Neit, and Manan- 
nan. Keating quotes from the Book of Invasions a poem that 
makes the Dagda " king of heaven," and he further enumerates 
Badb, Macha, and Morrighan as the three goddesses of the 
Tuatha-de-Danann. The Tuatha-de-Danann themselves appear 
often in the tales as the fairy host, the Side that dwell in the 
Land of Promise ; they interfere in the affairs of mortals long 
after they are represented as having been expelled from Ireland, 
thus, if not actually mentioned as having been the pagan gods of 
the Gael, yet, despite the rampant Euhemerism of Irish tales and 
histories, implicitly considered as such. And again, by adopting 
the same method as in the case of the Welsh myths, we shall 
make the Irish myths and histories, with their imposing array of 
invasions and genealogies, deliver up the deities they have con- 
signed to the ranks of kings and heroes. 

We must, however, first briefly indicate the leading points 
of early Irish history, as set down in the sober pages of their own 
annalists. Forty days before the flood the Lady Caesair, grand- 
daughter of Noah, with fifty girls and three men, came to Ireland. 
This is reckoned as the first " invasion" or " taking" of Ireland. 
Of course she and her company all perished when the flood came 
all, with one doubtful exception. For some legends, with more 
patriotism than piety, represent Fionntan, the husband of Caesair, 
as actually surviving the flood. The way in which he accom- 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 125 

plished this feat is unlike that of the ancestor of the Macleans, 
who weathered the flood in an ark of his own. Fionntan, when 
the flood began, was cast into a deep sleep, which continued for 
a year, and when he woke he found himself in his own house at 
Dun-Tulcha, in Kerry somewhere (for O'Curry has not been able 
exactly to localise this important event). He lived here con- 
temporaneously with the various dynasties that ruled in Ireland 
down to the time of Dermot in the sixth century of our era. He 
then appears for the last time, " with eighteen companies of his 
descendants," in order to settle a boundary dispute, since he was 
the oldest man in the world, and must know all the facts. This 
~story is not believed in by the more pious of the historians, for 
it too flagrantly contradicts the Scriptures. It, therefore, falls 
under O'Curry's category of "wild stories ;" these are stories which 
contain some historic truth, but are so overloaded with the fictions 
of the imagination as to be nearly valueless. The Irish historians 
have as much horror of a blank in their history, as nature was 
once supposed to have of a vacuum. The Lady Caesair fills the 
blank before the flood ; Partholan and his colony fill the first 
blank after the flood. He came from Migdonia, the middle of 
Greece, " twenty-two years before the birth of Abraham," and 
was the ninth in descent from Noah, all the intermediate names 
being duly given. He was not in the island ten years when the 
Fomorians, or sea-rovers, disturbed him. These Fomorians were 
a constant source of trouble to all succeeding colonists, and some- 
times they actually became masters of the country. Some three 
hundred years after their arrival, the colony of Partholan was cut 
off by a plague. Plagues, and eruptions of lakes and springs, fill 
up the gaps in the annals, when genealogies and battles are not 
forthcoming. For thirty years after the destruction of Partho- 
lan's colony, Ireland was waste. Then came Nemed and his 
sons, with their company, from " Scythia," in the year before 
Christ 2350. They were not long in the island when the Fomo- 
rians again appeared, and began to harass the Nemedians. Both 
parties were extremely skilled in Druidism, and they opposed 
each other in a fierce contest of spells as well as blows. The 
Fomorians were finally routed. Nemed was the 1 2th in descent 
from Noah. He had four sons Starn, Jarbonnel, Fergus, and 
Aininn. Some two hundred and sixteen years after coming to 



126 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Ireland, the Nemedians were overthrown by the Fomorians and 
the plague together, and only thirty escaped under the leadership 
of the three cousins, grandsons of Nemed, Simeon Breac, son of 
Starn ; Beothach, son of Jarbonnel ; and Britan Mael, son of Fergus. 
Simeon Breac and his party went to Greece, and after eleven 
generations returned as the Firbolgs. Beothach, with his clan, 
went to the northern parts of Europe, where they made them- 
selves perfect in the arts of Divination, Druidism, and Philo- 
sophy, and returned eleven generations later as the Tuatha-de- 
Danann. Britan Mael, with his family, went to Mona, and from 
there poured their descendants into the island, which is now 
called Britain, after their leader, Britan Mael. The Firbolgs, 
the descendants of Starn, son of Nemed, being oppressed in 
Greece, much as the Israelites were in Egypt, returned to Ireland, 
and took possession of it. " They were called the Firbolgs," we 
are told, " from the bags of leather they used to have in Greece for 
carrying soil to put on the bare rocks, that they might make 
flowery plains under blossom of them." The Firbolgs held Ire- 
land for thirty-six years, and then they were invaded by their 
1 2th cousins, the Tuatha-de-Danann, the descendants of Jarbon- 
nel, son of Nemid. Next to the Milesian colony yet to come, 
the Tuatha-de-Danann are the most important by far of the 
colonists, for in them we shall by-and-bye discover the Irish gods. 
What the annalists tell of them is briefly this. They came from 
the north of Europe, bringing with them " four precious jewels ;" 
the first was the Lia Fail, the Stone of Virtue or Fate, for where- 
ever it was, there a person of the race of Scots must reign ; 
the sword of Luga Lamfada ; the spear of the same ; and the 
cauldron of the Dagda, from which " a company never went away 
unsatisfied." The Tuatha landed in Ireland on the first of May, 
either 1900 or 1500 years before Christ, for the chronologies 
differ by only a few hundred years. They burned their ships as 
a sign of " no retreat," and for three days concealed themselves 
in a mist of sorcery. They then demanded the Firbolgs to yield, 
which, however, they would not do, and the great battle of Moy- 
tura South was fought. The Firbolgs were routed with immense 
slaughter. Nuada, leader of the Tuatha-De" in the battle, lost 
his hand in the fight, but Credne Cerd, the artificer, made a silver 
one for him, and Diancecht, the physician, fitted it on, while 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 127 

Miach, his son, infused feeling and motion into every joint and 
vein of it. For thirty years the Tuatha held undisputed posses- 
sion of Erin, but the Fomorians, who were continually hovering 
about the coast, now made a determined effort to conquer them. 
The battle of Moytura North was fought between them. In 
it Nuada of the Silver Hand fell, and so did Balor of the Evil 
Eye, leader of the Fomorians. He was slain by his grandson 
Luga of the Long Arms, who was practically leader of the Tuatha, 
and who succeeded to the kingship on the death of Nuada. After 
a reign of forty years Luga died, and was succeeded by the Dagda 
Mor, the central figure of the Tuatha-de-Danann, and in the pages 
of our Euhemerist annalists, an inscrutable and misty personage. 
O'Curry ventures even to call him a demigod. The Dagda was 
the twenty-fourth in descent from Noah ; let it be observed that 
Nemid was the twelfth in descent. The Firbolg chiefs also were 
in the twenty-fourth generation from Noah. Among the leading 
personages of the Tuatha were Manannan, the son of Alloid or 
Lir ; Ogma, son of Elathan, and brother of the Dagda, surnamed 
" Sunface ;" Goibniu, the smith; Luchtine, the carpenter; Danann, 
mother of their gods ; Brigit, the poetess ; Badb, Macha, and 
Morrigan, " their three goddesses," says Keating The Tuatha 
held Erin for nigh two hundred years, but when MacCuill, Mac- 
Cecht, and MacGreine, who were so called " because Coll, Cecht, 
and Grian, the hazel, the plough, and the sun, were gods of wor- 
ship to them," were ruling over Ireland with their respective 
queens Banba, Fodla, and Eire (three names of Ireland), the last 
colony of all appeared on the southern coast. These were the 
Milesians or Gaels from Spain and the East. They were in no 
respect related to the previous races, except that they were equally 
with them descended from Noah, Golam Miled, after whom they 
were called Milesians, being the twenty-fourth from Noah in 
direct descent. They were also called Gaels or Gaidels from an 
ancestor Gadelus, the seventh in descent from Noah, and son of 
Scota, daughter of Pharaoh. The family lived for the most part 
in Egypt, but Golam Miled, who was also married to a second 
Scota, daughter of Pharaoh, settled in Spain. The sons of Miled, 
to avenge a relative's murder, resolved to invade Erin. Under 
the leadership of Heber, Heremon, and Amergin, and accom- 
panied by Scota, a vast army in many ships invaded Ireland. 



128 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

No resistance was offered at first. The Milesians arrived at Tara, 
and there met the three kings and queens of the Tuatha-de- 
Danann. The latter complained of being taken by surprise, and 
asked the Milesians to embark again on board their ships and 
allow them have a chance of opposing their landing. The Mile- 
sians assented, entered their ships, and retired for " nine waves " 
on the sea. On facing about again no Ireland was to be seen ! 
The Tuatha by their sorcery had made the island as small as a pig's 
back, and the Milesians could therefore not see it. In addition to this 
they raised a violent storm on the sea, with clouds and darkness 
that could be felt. Many Milesian ships were lost, and the 
danger was brought to an end only when Amergin, who was also 
a Druid, pronounced a Druidic prayer, or oration, evidently 
addressed to the Tuatha De", and the storm ceased. They then 
landed peaceably; but they did not get the island without a few 
battles of a very hazy sort, indeed. It probably at first was 
intended to be shown that the Tuatha allowed them to land, and 
themselves retired to the Land of Promise the country of the 
Side where they still took an interest in mortal affairs, and often 
afterwards appeared in Irish history and tales. The Milesians, or 
Gadelians or Gaels, are a purely mortal race ; they were, in fact, 
the dominant race of Ireland in historic times. Their history and 
full genealogies from some thirteen hundred years before Christ 
till the introduction of Christianity, are gravely told in the 
Annals of the Four Masters and Keating's Ireland ; every king 
has his pedigree given, and many are the details that are recorded 
of their doings in war and in peace, in society, and in the chase, 
in law, and in the care and seizure of land and of cattle. 
Mythic persons constantly flit across the page ; the demigods 
become mere mortal chiefs, and the " last reflections " of the 
sun-god appear in the features of Cuchulainn and Finn. 

There are many interpretations put upon the history that we 
have just summarily given. Naturally enough, ethnological 
theories form the greater part of such explanations. The leading 
invasion's of the Firbolgs, Fomorians, Tuatha-de-Danann and 
Milesians, are made use of to refute or support some favourite 
theory about the various races that go to compose the Irish nation. 
Two hundred years ago an Irish genealogist, of the name of 
Dubaltach MacFirbisigh, advanced the theory, doubtless sup- 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 129 

ported by tradition, that " every one who is white-skinned, brown- 
haired, bountiful in the bestowal on the bards of jewels, wealth, 
and rings, not afraid of battle or combat, is of the Clanna-Miled 
(the Milesians) ; every one who is fair-haired, big, vindictive, 
skilled in music, druidry, and magic, all these are of the Tuatha- 
de-Danann ; while the black-haired, loud-tongued, mischievous, 
tale-bearing, inhospitable churls, the disturbers of assemblies, who 
love not music and entertainment, these are of the Feru-bolg and 
the other conquered peoples." Skene, in modern times, gives this 
theory of MacFirbisigh in our modern terms : the Firbolgs be- 
long to the Iberian or Neolithic and pre-Celtic tribes ; the Celts 
themselves are divided into Gaels and Britons ; the Gaelic branch 
is again subdivided into (i) a fair-skinned, large-limbed, and red- 
haired race the Picts of Caledonia and the Tuatha-de-Danann 
of Ireland ; and (2), a fair-skinned, brown-haired race, " of a less 
Germanic type," represented in Ireland by the Milesians, and in 
Scotland by the band of invading Scots. We have already pre- 
sented the best modern scientific views on the ethnology of these 
islands ; there would appear to have been three races (i), A 
primitive small, dark, long-headed race, of the Basque type in 
language and Iberian in physique ; (2), a fair, tall, rough-featured, 
round-headed, and rough-limbed race, also pre-Celtic, which we 
called the Finnish ; and (3), the Celts, fair, straight-featured, 
long-headed and tall, and belonging to the Aryan family. We 
might equate the Firbolgs with the dark Iberian race ; the 
Tuatha-de-Danann with the Finnish race ; and the Milesians 
with the Celts. The legendary and traditional account can 
easily be fitted into the present scientific view of the subject. But, 
after all, the truth of such a theory must be gravely doubted ; 
even its agreement with proper scientific methods in such cases 
must be questioned. We may grant that the strong contrast 
between a small dark race and a tall fair race might give rise to 
a myth like that of the Firbolgs and Tuatha-de-Dananns. But 
in Wales, where the contrast is even stronger, no such myth 
exists. Again, the Milesians were really fair-haired and not 
brown-haired ; the heroes of Ulster are all fair or yellow-haired, 
and so are the Feni. It is best, therefore, to adopt a purely 
mythological explanation of the matter. Despite its pseudo- 
historical character, the whole history of the invasions of the 

H 



130 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Firbolg, De-Dananns, and Fomorians appears to be a Gaelic 
counterpart of what we see in Greek mythology, the war of the 
rough and untamed powers of earth, sea, and fire, against the 
orderly cosmos of the Olympians ; the war, in short, of the giants 
and Titans against Zeus and his brothers. The Firbolgs may be, 
therefore, looked upon as the earth-powers ; too much stress need 
not be laid on the fact that they and their brethren, the Fir- 
Domnans, were wont to dig the soil, make pits, and carry earth 
in bags to make flowery plains of bare rocks ; but it should be 
noticed that they always meet the Tuatha-de-Danann as natives 
of the soil repelling invaders. The gods of the soil often belong 
to a pre-Aryan people, while the greater gods, the Olympians 
and the Tuatha-de-Danann, are intrusive, the divinities of the 
new-comers into the land, the patrons of warriors and sea-faring 
men. Behind these last there often stand deities of older birth, 
those who had been worshipped in ancient days by the simple 
and settled folk of the land. Such were Pan or Hermes of Arcadia, 
Dionysus of Thrace, and Demeter and Dione. The Firbolgs 
may, therefore, be looked on as either the homely gods of pre- 
ceding tribes of the non-Aryan races, or as answering to the 
giants and Titans of kindred Aryan races. " The King of the 
Feru-Bolg," says Mr Fitzgerald, " Eothaile whom we shall find 
reason to suspect to be a fire-giant fled from the field when the 
day was lost, ' in search of water to allay his burning thirst,' and 
by the water of the sea he fell on Traigh-Eothaile, ' Eothaile's 
Strand,' in Sligo. His great cairn, still standing, on this strand 
was one of the wonders of Ireland, and though not ap- 
parently elevated, the zvater could never cover it" If we turn 
to the Fomorians, we shall find quite as easy an explanation. 
The meaning of the word is " Sea-rover ;" it has always been 
derived from the words "fo," under, and "muir," sea, and the 
meaning usually attached to the combination has been " those 
that rove on the sea." The Fomorians are, therefore, sea-powers: 
the rough, chaotic power of the Atlantic Ocean. They meet the 
Tuatha-de-Dannan in the extreme West of Ireland, on the last 
day of summer, that is, November eve : the fierce ocean powers 
meet the orderly heaven and air gods on the Atlantic borders 
when winter is coming on, and the latter do not allow the former 
to overwhelm the country. Balor of the Evil Eye, whose glance 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 131 

can turn his opponents into stone, and who, in some forms of the 
legend, is represented as having only one eye, is very suggestive 
of Polyphemus, the giant son of the Grecian ocean god. To this 
we may compare the Gaelic tale of the Muireartach, where 
the Atlantic Sea is represented as a "toothy carlin," with 
an eye in the middle of her forehead. The Tuatha- de-Dan - 
anns will, therefore, be simply the gods that beneficially 
direct the powers of sky, air, sea, and earth ; they will cor- 
respond exactly to Zeus, Poseidon, Pluto, and the rest of the 
Grecian god-world, who benignly rule over the heavens, the sea, 
and the shades. The Milesians will accordingly be merely the 
main body of the Gaelic people, whose gods the Tuatha-de- 
Danann are. Why there is jio more open acknowledgment of 
the Tuatha-de-Danann as the pagan gods of the Gael may easily 
be accounted for. The accounts we have are long posterior to 
the introduction of Christianity ; and it was a principle of the 
early Christian Church to assimilate to itself, following the true 
Roman fashion, all native religions. The native gods were made 
saints (especially the female divinities, such as Brigit), fairies, 
demons, and kings. Christianity was about five hundred years 
established before we have any native record of events ; the 
further back we go the nearer do the Tuatha-De come to be 
gods. Even in the 8th century an Irish monk could still invoke 
Goibniu and Diancecht, the Tuatha gods answering to Vulcan 
and Arsculapius, for relief from, and protection against, pain. 
(To be continued.) 



THE GLASGOW LOCHABER HIGHLANDERS. The fifteenth annual 
meeting of the Natives of Lochaber, and their friends, was held in the Queen's 
Rooms, Glasgow, on Friday, I4th December, Mr Charles Eraser- Mackintosh, M.P. 
(who delivered a very interesting address on Lochaber, its history and people), in the 
chair. On the platform were the Rev. L. Maclachlan, of St Columba ; Rev. William 
Thomson, Greenock ; Donald Macphee, Procurator- Fiscal, Glasgow, and President 
of the Association ; Hugh Austin, Vice-President ; Alex. Mackenzie, Editor of the 
Celtic Magazine ; Alex. Kennedy and A. C. Macintyre, Joint Secretaries ; A. W. 
Macleod and Hugh Macleod, representing the Skye Association; Henry Whyte, 
Charles M. Ramsay, of the Citizen, and Peter Stewart, representing the Inverness- 
shire Association ; and several others. Mr Mackenzie and Mr Macphee delivered 
short addresses, the former speaking both in Gaelic and English. 



I32 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

THE ETHICS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
Concluded. 

X. DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 

OF RENT AND TAXATION. i. In the introduction to his Manual 
of Political Economy, Mr Fawcett remarks : " Political economy, 
if kept within its proper limits, does not provide a code of social 
ethics which will enable us to decide what is right or wrong, and 
what is just or unjust." It is, perhaps, as difficult to define the 
limits of political economy as it might be to write a code of social 
ethics, and as the principles of the former science do not com- 
mand universal assent, it may be safely asserted that the politics 
of the country are likely to be shaped in future more for the 
public benefit, if governed without such aids, by a mere sense of 
what is right or wrong, and what is just or unjust. If such claims 
of exactness and accuracy were not put forward in support of a 
science which has been thrown into confusion by unsettled 
theories, it might appear an ill-natured remark to make, that we 
should not regret the absence of a code of ethics if it supplied a 
good system of logic. The introduction of a false theory into the 
reasoning of political economy is like a repeating error in a 
mathematical computation ; it vitiates every conclusion. The 
Ricardian theory of rent, of which Mr Fawcett is a very stout 
advocate, is one of these confusing hypotheses, but as I have dis- 
cussed it at some length in a former article, I shall now merely 
point out the remarkable way in which Mr Fawcett applies it. 
He says 

" From Ricardo's theory of rent there can be adduced the very important pro- 
position, that rent is not an element of the cost of obtaining agricultural produce. A 
no less eminent writer than the late Mr Buckle has assured his readers that the 
proposition just stated can only be grasped by a comprehensive thinker ; we, however, 
believe that it may be made very intelligible by a simple exposition. If rent is not an 
element of cost of production, food would be no cheaper if all land were arbitrarily 
made rent full." 

It is not necessary to quote the argument at greater length, as the 
last sentence embodies the whole substance of it. The reader will 
remember that Mr Buckle referred to the passage in the "Wealth 
of Nations," where it is stated that rent " enters into price" or 



ETHICS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 133 

forms a component part of it, and he (Mr Buckle) mentioned that 
the question was the corner stone of political economy. We 
could hardly charge Mr Fawcett with a wilful misrepresentation 
of eminent authors, and must suppose that a zealous adherence 
to this theory led him into an unconscious error. As rent is a 
surplus over the " cost of production," it is a self-evident fact that 
it cannot form a part of the cost. If I heap a bushel of corn, and 
draw the roller over it, the surplus cannot be contained in the 
measure. The surplus constitutes the rent that the producer can 
afford to pay, and if this is the important conclusion that may be 
drawn from the theory, it only provs that land affords a rent, 
and shows how well its advocates can argue in a circle. This is 
putting the case as it stands between the landlord and the farmer, 
with regard to whom the question does not assume all its im- 
portance. It must be observed that price and " cost of produc- 
tion" are not synonimous terms, and do not represent the same 
class of individuals, as the producer and consumer are not, in 
political economy, the same person. It is the consumer who 
pays the price which includes cost of production and also rent, 
and what the school to which Mr Fawcett belongs really wants 
to prove is that rent does not form a component part of price, 
because, as these economists say, if all land were arbitrarily 
made rent-free, it would not make the price of produce any 
lower, and there they are satisfied to leave the question. But 
what Mr Buckle actually did say is as follows : 

" I may mention the theory of rent, which was only discovered half a century 
ago, and which is connected with so many subtle arguments that it is not yet generally 
adopted, and even some of its advocates have shown themselves unequal to defend 
their own cause." 

2. This theory is not so well known to the ears of general 
readers as the Malthusian theory of population. These theories 
favour the materialistic views of economists who regard the phen- 
omena of nature and of human life as resulting from mere physical 
causes, and it would seem to be repugnant to the science, and 
perhaps to their own notions, to rise to the contemplation of pre- 
established laws of design, as manifested in the adaptation of 
external nature to the wants of man, on the one hand, and on 
the other they overlook those intellectual and moral attributes 
which are so liable to be affected for good or evil by political 



i 3 4 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

institutions. But whilst the Malthusian theory of population has 
been so eagerly seized upon, and applied in a way which that 
celebrated and humane author little thought of, his theory of 
rent has been considered so little scientific that it has been 
relegated to ethics, of which political economy takes no account! 
Mr Malthus says : 

" It seems rather extraordinary that the very great benefit which society derives 
from that surplus produce of the land which, in the progress of society, falls mainly to 
the landlord in the shape of rent, should not yet be fully understood and acknowledged. 
I have called this surplus a bountiful gift of Providence, and am most decidedly of 
opinion that it fully deserves the appellation." 

3. It is clear from the reasoning of Aristotle in his chapter 
on distributive justice, referred to in a former article, that he 
regarded the rent of land as common property, and refers to it 
as a mean proportion. 

"Now, it is clear," he says, "that disjunctive proportion implies four terms; 
but continuous proportion is in four terms also ; for it will use one term in place of 
two and mention it twice ; for instance, as A to B so is B to C ; B has, therefore, 
been mentioned twice. So that if B be put down twice, the terms of the proportion 
are four." 

Political economy might be more accurately termed the 
Science of Social and Economic Ratios, for society is naturally 
constituted by gradations of ranks and positions. The reward of 
every man must clearly be in some proportion to worth, and 
Adam Smith made labour, or human effort, the foundation and 
only real standard of value. Now, with regard to rent, it is 
obvious that the misconception of the economists arises from not 
recognising the truth that the world of man, and its government, 
must conform to the pre-established law which awards nothing to 
the idler in respect of the soil, for it is impossible to believe that 
benificent nature could have made an exception, without the privi- 
lege becoming a burden upon society in some form or other. 
This surplus, or residuum, arises from trade and commerce, for 
which man was designed, and of which Price is the collective expres- 
sion, or Mercury, and it has always been regarded in every age 
of the world as the revenue of the State, and appropriated for the 
support of the Church and civil administration. From the above 
reasoning, it appears that rent is a mean proportion, which is in 
ratio with cost of production, and capable of bearing the same 
ratio with Price, or cost of living to the whole of society. When 



ETHICS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 135 

it accrues to the Sovereign (whose throne is the seat of justice 
and mercy) it is a mean of justice which is capable of adjusting 
the extremes according to the law of geometrical proportion. 
But when appropriated by a privileged class it is clear that it 
enters into price, from the fact that the indirect taxation, which 
has been substituted for it, enters into the cost of living, and from 
this it appears that it is a mean proportion, and homologous with 
taxation. Then if all taxation were commuted into a rent charge? 
it would become a mean of justice, and society^as a whole, would 
enjoy this " gift of Providence." 

4. I feel very confident in making the assertion that, in 
respect of the first principles of the science, where Adam Smith's 
expositions have been traversed, it will eventually be found that 
he was correct in his deductions, and that such hypotheses as 
have been added since his time, and are not already exploded, 
will receive their quietus at the hands of posterity, if not in our 
own time. It is true he did not completely eliminate rent as a 
labour residuum, nor point it out exclusively as the revenue of 
the Sovereign, but it must be admitted that he came so remark- 
ably near it as to leave very little excuse for his successors in 
departing so widely from his doctrine. He considered the ratio 
of rent to the cost of production to range between one-fourth 
and one-fifth of the gross rental, and as late as 1775 (the date of 
the publication of the " Wealth of the Nations") he stated the 
question as it then stood with reference to taxation, as follows : 

" In the present state of the greater part of the civilised monarchies of Europe, 
the rents of all the lands in the country, managed as they perhaps would be if they 
belonged to one proprietor, would scarce, perhaps, amount to the ordinary revenue 
which they levy upon people even in peaceable times. The ordinary revenue of 
Great Britain, for example, including not only what is necessary for defraying the 
current expense of the year, but for paying the interest of the public debts, and for 
sinking a part of the capital of those debts, amounts to upwards of ten millions a-year. 
But the land-tax, at four shillings in the pound, falls short of two millions a-year. 

Both ground rents and ordinary rent of land are a species of revenue 

which the owner, in many cases, enjoys without any care or attention of his own. 
Though a part of this revenue should be taken from him in order to defray the ex- 
penses of the State, no discouragement will thereby be given to any sort of industry. 
The annual produce of the land and labour of the society, the real wealth and revenue 
of the great body of the people, might be the same after such a tax as before. Ground 
rents and the ordinary rent of land are, therefore, perhaps, the species of revenue 
which can best bear to have a peculiar tax imposed upon them." 

Keeping in view that the author of the above placed all ex- 



i 3 6 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

change value in labour, and made it the foundation of all created 
wealth, the phenomenon of rent ought to have appeared to him in a 
stronger light, and it must be admitted that the case is stated with 
too much indecision. The important scientific inquiry, in its practi- 
cal bearing, is, manifestly, to estimate, or ascertain, whether in 
every civilised and industrial nation, land yields a sufficient 
revenue for all the ordinary pacific purposes of State, in excess 
of the wages of labour and profits of capital, originally bestowed 
upon the ameliorations. The valuation upon which the two 
millions were assessed was made in 1692, and it has been gene- 
rally supposed (as we may readily believe), that it was much 
below the real value at that period. In 1775, after the lapse of 
83 years of great commercial activity, and a large increase of 
population, it is, perhaps, not too much to estimate the lands of 
the United Kingdom to have trebled that valuation. This would 
give a revenue of six millions. Now, the interest on the public 
debt in 1775 was nearly four and a-half millions, and we cannot 
suppose that a natural law would provide for a war fund. De- 
ducting this from the total revenue there would be left only five 
and a-half millions as the ordinary expenses of Government, 
on a peace footing, which would be more than covered by a land- 
tax, or rent, at the supposed increase in the value of land. If we 
deduct the interest of the public debt from our present heavy 
expenditure, the ordinary expenses of the State would probably 
be covered by ground- rents and the ordinary, or natural, rent of 
land. But as nations are armed to the teeth, we are hardly in a 
position, perhaps, to judge what the ordinary expenses on a peace 
footing would be. It may be fairly concluded, however, that in 
every civilised and industrial nation this " gift of Providence" is 
sufficient to meet the expenses of the State, for the civil and 
moral government of society. 

5. In support of the views of Adam Smith, I quote another 
eminent economist of great weight and authority. Dr Chalmers 
wrote, just fifty years ago, as follows : 

" The commutation of taxes into a territorial impost, will be the work of a later 
age ; though we should rejoice, even now, did we witness a commencement, however 
humble, an approximation however slow, to this great political and economical 
reform. " 

In reference to a question of such deep import, where vast 



ETHICS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 137 

interests are involved, confiscation is not an appropriate word to 
be bandied about during a period of public excitement, and our 
notions on the subject are liable to be further confused by the 
expression: " The nationalisation of the land." We could hardly 
imagine the land to be denationalised except by conquest, 
or by the introduction of another race of inhabitants ; and 
what those reformers really mean, as a practicable* measure, 
is the nationalisation of rent, which is a much more intel- 
ligible expression, besides which, there is the great advantage 
of having a constitutional precedent to go upon, as well as the 
opinions of philosophers and economists, who were certainly not 
second to men of the present day in either of these departments 
of human knowledge, and who did not discuss politics minus a 
code of ethics, or a sense of right and wrong, of justice and in- 
justice. 

Although the corrupt and servile Parliaments of last century 
practically voted themselves free of the land tax, and threw the 
taxation of the country upon the commercial and industrial 
classes, it is still an inalienable right of society to reimpose it. 
On the passing of the Commutation Act, Mr Pitt entered a 
caveat to the effect that the Act was not to preclude that or any 
other Parliament from reimposing it ; and after so long enjoy- 
ment of an ever increasing increment it is evidently absurd to 
regard an equitable adjustment of taxation as confiscation. What 
may truly be regarded as unjust is to confiscate part of the hard- 
won earnings of the working classes. For instance, a crofter from 
Tiree goes to town to sell the produce of his labour, and, among 
other things, buys, say I Ib. tea, 2s. 6d.; I Ib. coffee, is. 6d.; I 
Ib. tobacco, 43.; and a bottle of whisky, 33. 6d.; in all iis. 6d. 
Out of this portion of his wages the Government confiscates no 
less than 53. pd., just the one-half; so that the Duke of Argyll 
may appropriate the sea-weed, and permit it to be worked on the 
" truck system." 

Unjustly, however, as the burden of taxation falls on the 
working classes, it is, perhaps, not so much in that respect that 
the country suffers, as by the restraints that are imposed upon 
agricultural industry and individual freedom, resulting in the dis- 
location of society by driving the rural population into towns, to 
overstock the labour market, and swell the pauper roll Recent 



I 3 8 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

legislation, and the discussions which proceeded upon it, have 
clearl^shown that all attempts to adjust equities between land- 
lord and tenant can only result in a flood of litigation, and post- 
pone a more radical reform. The natural position of the 
agriculturist and house-owner is to own the lands which they 
occupy, irrespective of the size of holdings. This is to be a 
freeman, which is an essential condition to every progressive 
and harmonious society. It is an essential of liberty that a man 
should be as free to remain in his locality as to leave it. If 
under the necessity to place himself in the bondage of a lease to 
another man he is no longer a freeman. The nature of the land, 
as well as the principle of liberty, does not sanction the unnatural 
relationship. The private appropriation of the gift of Providence 
to society, and using this privilege as an instrument of power and 
oppression, is an evident transgression of a moral-physical law, 
which receives not the sanction of nature or of human nature. 

Guernsey. MALCOLM MACKENZIE. 



CELTIC AND LITERARY NOTES. 

WE observe with sincere pleasure that, through the liberality of friends of the Celtic 
Chair, a considerable sum has been provided for distribution a? prizes at the close of 
the first session. Professor Blackie has himself contributed 2$, with promise of 
other 2$ ; the Inverness, Ross, and Nairn Club, 10 ; and the Edinburgh Suther- 
land Association, .5. 55. A fund has also been set on foot for the purpose of 
establishing travelling scholarships in connection with the Chair, to which the fol- 
lowing sums have already been devoted, viz: 12. I2S. from the Heather Club, 
Edinburgh ; .10 from Mr Shepherd, Burntisland ; ^100 from a Highland land- 
owner ; and ^25 from Mr Ralph Carr Ellison of Dunstanhill, Newcastle. Nothing 
could be better calculated to give a healthy stimulus to the work of the Celtic classes 
than such incitements as these rewards afford, and we earnestly hope that the 
better-to-do friends of the Gael, in all parts of the world, will follow the good 
example shown in this very encouraging beginning. An admirable medium through 
which such aid might be applied, would be the movement now a-foot under the guid- 
ance of the Council of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, for the collection of a fund in 
recognition of the unprecedented labours of Professor Blackie, in establishing the 
Chair. The proposed Testimonial will, in the main, in terms of the Professor's own 
desire, assume the form of rewards and incitements to the students of the Gaelic 
language and literature in connection with the Celtic Chair. 

An association with objects quite kindred with the bursary and scholarship 
scheme of the Celtic Chair, and one the importance of whose good work in this field 
cannot be over estimated, is the Ladies' Highland Bursary Association, which held its 



CELTIC AND LITERARY NOTES. 139 

annual meeting in Edinburgh in the month of November, under the presidency of 
Principal Tulloch. The general object of the Association is to give tangible en- 
couragement to Gaelic students prosecuting their studies with the v ; ew of entering the 
ministry of the Church of Scotland. The Rev. Mr Mackenzie, of Kingussie, the inde- 
fatigable Secretary of the Association, presented the Report, which testified to a very 
large amount of successful work. It gives us pleasure to note that the capital of the 
scheme seems quite appropriately to be centred in the Capital of the Highlands. 
Out of sixteen bursars to be provided for, no fewer than thirteen are attending Rain- 
ing's School, Inverness. It were well that in other populous centres in the Highlands 
there should be similar auxiliaries in the work of preparing students for the more 
systematic studies of the Celtic Chair. 



Much as the gradual decay of the Gaelic language is to be observed on every 
hand, there is no agency to which even the present hopeful condition of things, and 
the great interest taken in the cause of that language and its literature, are more largely 
attributable than to the labours of the late venerated Dr Norman Macleod of St 
Columba's, Glasgow. It was, therefore, most appropriate that the centenary of his 
birth should not be allowed to pass without some demonstration. Accordingly there 
was held in the City Hall, Glasgow, on the 4th of December, a gathering of some 
2000 of the friends and admirers of " Caraide nan Gaidheal," presided over by the 
energetic and genial minister of St Columba, Mr Maclachlan. Among those who 
took part in the meeting were Dr Macleod's youngest son, the Editor of Good Words ; 
his nephews, Dr Norman Macleod, of Edinburgh, and Dr John Macleod, of 
Govan ; Professor Blackie, Sheriff Nicolson, the Rev. Mr Blair, and others. In our 
day of cheap postage, easy communication, and literary activity, it is not easy to 
realise even the mechanical difficulties of conducting single-handed, as Dr Macleod 
did, such an enterprise as the " Teachdaire Gaidhealach," which made its visits 
regularly month after month among our hills and glens, carrying its budget of sweet 
and racy anecdote, ancient history and lore, and its eagerly-looked-for items of con- 
temporary intelligence. 



No less pleasant are the reminiscences still fresh among us of the period, some 
dozen years later, when " Cuairtear nan Gleann," under more encouraging physical 
circumstances, but in greatly more troublous times, made its welcome visits. To 
these two agencies are particularly due any measure of romance attaching to Gaelic 
literature in Scotland, as well as the wonderful state of preservation in which we have 
the language still among us, notwithstanding the cold and repressive attitude of 
School Boards and teachers. 



To Dr Macleod also we credit the fact that, notwithstanding the paucity of 
the remains of ancient Gaelic in Scotland as compared with Ireland, the modern 
literature of the Scottish dialect is largely in excess in point of quantity, and we 
venture also to say much superior in literary and classical excellence, to the productions 
of the present day Celts of the sister island. All honour, then, to the memory of 
Dr Norman Macleod, of St Columba. The bright halo of the good man, and the 
healthy influence of his handiwork, have passed down from generation to generation 
of the sons of the Gael, and even yet in a foreign land how many a hearth is cheered 



HO THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

with a rehearsal of what the fathers have told of the times and tales of the 
" Teachclaire," and " Cuairtear." 

" The page may be lost, and the pen long forsaken, 

And weeds may grow wild o'er the brave heart and hand ; 
But ye are still left when all else hath been taken, 
Like streams in the desert sweet tales of our land." 



WOODS, FORESTS, AND ESTATES OF PERTHSHIRE, WITH 
SKETCHES OF THE PRINCIPAL FAMILIES OF THE COUNTY, 
By THOMAS HUNTER. Perth : Henderson, Robertson, & Hunter. 1883. 

NEXT to Mr Hunter's "pleasure in the pathless woods" will be the delight of every 
reader of this charming book. It consists, as he tells us in his preface, of sketches which 
originally appeared in the Perthshire Constitutional, of which Mr Hunter is the ac- 
complished editor and part proprietor. In an introductory chapter, the author dis- 
courses pleasantly on the impressive effects produced by the appearance of a woody 
landscape, and the important part which the trees of the forests play in the economy 
of Nature. After placing the poets, sacred and profane, under tribute in illustrating 
his essay, he sums all up as follows: "All our 'ideas of beautiful scenery are 
associated with woods. The landscape that is destitute of trees presents a barren and 
uninteresting appearance, while a country that is rich in arboreal features is as re- 
freshing to the eye as is a sheet of water in an arid land. The majestic oak with its 
grey rifted trunk and its dark indented foliage, and the equally majestic beech with its 
fine silvery bark and pale green leaves add dignity and grace to the well-kept ancestral 
park. The light graceful birch which overhangs the mountain stream, imparts to the 
landscape that fairy-like charm, which is so attractive to the lover of the picturesque ; 
while the pine with its straight tall stem and evergreen foliage clothes the landscape 
with a pleasing uniformity." 

The commercial importance of tree planting is strongly presented ; and this is 
a feature of Mr Hunter's work which cannot be too much laid to heart by proprietors 
and administrators of Highland property. Even to those who devote their attention 
to the rearing of game, no condition of country is more profitable than that which 
affords the most cover, while it is well known that its grazing capacity and the shelter 
it supplies against the winter's storms is highly favourable to the raising of stock. It 
can thus be found that successful cultivation and abundant game are not at all so 
inimical to each other when properly regulated as might be supposed. 

A second chapter of a general character is devoted by Mr Hunter to a comparison 
of the past and present arboreal character of the county of Perth. We are also 
furnished with an interesting table, showing the acreage under trees in all the counties 
of Scotland. Taking the Highland counties we find that Inverness tops the list with 
162,201 acres ; Perthshire comes next with 94,563 ; Ross and Cromarty, 43,201 ; 
Argyle, 42,741 ; Sutherland, 12,260; Nairn, 13,241; Bute, 3,454; and Caithness, 
210 acres, respectively. The woods of Perthshire Mr Hunter estimates at ^"35 per 
acre, showing a total value for the county of nearly three and a half millions sterling. 
Proceeding to details, he devotes his next chapter to a description of Athole, 
with its gigantic forests and its stately trees. He goes in a similar manner over all 
the important districts of the county, leaving scarce a tree unvisited. His pages teem 
with entertaining gossip, about not merely the trees and woods, but the people and 



WOODS AND FORESTS OF PERTHSHIRE. 141 

their history as gathered by him in the course of his enthusiastic rambles. Visiting 
Glenlyon, for example, he makes a discovery which may well surprise the natives of 
that respectable neighbourhood. It is no less a fact than that Pontius Pilate of 
evil memory was actually born in the parish. Let Mr Hunter state his grounds for, 
this astounding assertion in his own words. He says, page 430 :- 

" The story told concerning it being the birthplace of the Roman Governor of 
Judea in the days of our Saviour is very circumstantial, and there is no reason to 
believe that it may not be absolutely true. We are told that a short time previous to 
the birth of Christ, Caesar Augustus sent an embassy to Scotland, as well as other 
countries, with the view of endeavouring what has been so often tried since to effect a 
universal peace. The Roman ambassadors are said to have met Metellanus, the 
Scottish King, in this region, one of the ambassadors being the father of Pontius 
Pilate. As the story goes, a son was born to the ambassador at Fortingall while he 
was sojourning there on his laudable mission, and it is asserted that the son was the 
veritable Governor of Judea whose name is handed down to us in Holy Writ. It is, 
at all events, certain that such a mission was sent to Scotland by Caesar Augustus 
about the time of the birth of Pontius Pilate, and that Metallanus received the ambas- 
sadors at Fortingall, where he was hunting and holding Court. The ambassadors 
brought rich presents with them, and the Scottish King, who was desirous of friendly 
relations with the Masters of the World, sent valuable gifts to the Emperor in return, 
and was successful in obtaining ' an amitie with the Romans, which continued betwixt 
them and his kingdome for a long time after.' The tradition may, therefore, be per- 
fectly true. The remains of the Roman Camp are pointed out by the natives, with no 
small pride, although it requires some examination to trace its outline 

' No towers are seen 

On the wild heath, but those that fancy builds, 
And, save a fosse that tracks the moor with green, 
It nought remains to tell of what may there have been. 

And yet grave authors, with no small waste 
Of their grave time, have dignified the spot 
By theories to prove the fortress placed 
By Roman hands to curb the invading Scot.' 

The camp is traditionally said to have been formed by Agricola, who fought a battle 
with the Caledonians in the neighbourhood. Many interesting Roman remains have 
been found from time to time in and about the site of the camp. Of these may be 
mentioned a Roman standard, the shaft of which encloses a five-fluted spear, and 
which is preserved at Troup House. In the praetorium of the camp was found a vase 
of curious mixed metal, and in shape resembling a coffee-pot. This was found about 
1733, and is preserved in Taymouth Castle. Of late years a number of urns and flint 
arrow-heads have been picked up in and around the camp. The camp is situated 
about a quarter of a mile west of the village, the outline of the camp being about one 
and a-half acre. The ramparts are almost entirely levelled with the ground, but can 
still be traced. The praetorium is remarkably complete, as also the marks of a deep 
fosse, which is supposed to have surrounded Agricola's headquarters. The ditch or 
outer trench is now in many places filled in, so that its course is not so easily 
followed." 

Space prevents our quoting further from this delightful book. It will amply 
repay perusal by the general reader, while it will prove an invaluable and 
reliable guide to the local historian, and pre-eminently so to the connoisseur in 
arboriculture and estate management. 



Books reviewed, or noticed in our " Literary Notes," or indeed any book, will 
be supplied, to order, from the Celtic Magazine Office at the published prices, and 
sent by Parcels or Book Post to any address. 



H2 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



THE REV. DONALD MUNRO, M.A., HIGH DEAN 
OF THE ISLES. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

SIR, I am glad to see from the Celtic for November, just to hand, that you have 
resolved to publish a new edition of Dean Munro's "Description of the Western 
Islands of Scotland." As you are aware, I am engaged in compiling a History of the 
Clan Munro, or Rothaich, and have been successful in collecting a considerable 
amount of matter relative to the Clan and individual members of it. The following 
are all the " Notes," respecting Dean Munro, I have as yet succeeded in unearthing ; 
and I submit them to the readers of the Celtic, in the hope that those of them who 
may be in possession of any further information concerning the Dean, or, indeed, any 
member of the Clan Munro, will communicate with me, and thereby render valu- 
able assistance : 

Donald Munro was the eldest son of Alexander Munro of Kiltearn, by his wife, 
Janet, daughter ofFarquhar Maclean of Dochgarroch. Alexander was fourth son of 
Hugh Munro I. of Coul, in the palish of Alness, who was second son of George 
Munro, tenth Baron of Fowlis, by his second marriage with Christian, daughter of 
John Macculloch of Plaids, who was Bailie of the " Girth," or Sanctuary " of Sanct 
Duthouis of Tayne" in 1458. 

Donald Munro, like his uncle John (from whom the present family of Teaninich 
in the parish of Alness is descended) became a churchman. His place of education 
is not recorded, but as he was a Master of Arts, it must have been at one of the three 
Universities then existing in Scotland, probably at King's College, Aberdeen, where 
most of the northern students then generally resorted. 

His earliest ecclesiastical preferment, hitherto ascertained, was the Archdeaconry 
of the Isles, to which he was nominated in, or shortly after, 1549. The Arch- 
deacon in 1544 was Roderick Maclean, in whose favour Bishop Farquhar of the Isles 
then resigned his See ; and in 1548, Queen Mary presented " Master Archibald 
Munro, Chaplain, to the Archdeaconry, when it should become vacant by the de- 
mission of the venerable clerk, Master Roderick M'Clane :" the latter, however, was 
not confirmed as Bishop of the Isles by Pope Julius III. till the 5th of March 1550, 
and he died in 1553- 

Dean Munro visited most of the Western Isles in 1549, and wrote an interesting 
account of them in the Scottish dialect, which was first printed from his own MS. at 
Edinburgh in 1744, I2mo., pp. 67, with the title, "A Description of the Western 
Isles of Scotland, or Hybrides, in 1549, with Genealogies of the Chieff Clans of the 
Isles ; by Mr Donald Munro, High Dean of the Isles." Only fifty copies of the work 
were printed, and, as it had become scarce, editions of it were reprinted in 1805 and 
1818. These are now quite out of print, and it is a work well deserving of being 
re-edited, with more care than has hitherto been shown. Buchanan, who was a con- 
temporary of his, as also, it is said, a correspondent and acquaintance, mentions the 
Archdeacon of the Isles with praise, as "Donaldus Monrous, homo doctus et piusqui 
eas Ebrides omnes et ipse peragnavit et oculis per lustravit " ; that is, Donald 
Munro, a pious and diligent person (or learned man), who travelled in person over all 
those islands, and viewed them exactly." 



THE REV. DONALD MUNRO, M.A. 143 

In 1563, a charter by Alexander Bain of Tulloch, in the parish of Dingwall, is 
witnessed by " Donald Munro, Archdeacon of the Isles." 

In "The Register of Ministers and thair Stipendis, sen the Yeir of God 1567," 
preserved in the General Register House, at Edinburgh, and which was printed as a 
contribution to the Maitland Club at Glasgow, by Mr A. Macdonald, in Edinburgh, 
in 1830, under the " Ministers in Ros," is found " Mr Donald Monro, Commissionar 
to plant Kirkis in Ros, and to assist the Bischope of Caitnes in semlable planting 
(similar labours), to begyn at Lambmes (ist August) 1563 . . . iiijc merkis " ; 
and in the " Register of Ministers and Readers in the Kirk of Scotland," from the 
MS. "Booke of the Assignatione of Stipendis" for the year 1574, and printed in 
1844, in volume I. of the " Wodrow Society," ably edited by the late David Laing, 
under the "Diocie of Ros," occurs, as Commissioner of Ross, "Master Donald Monro, 
minister," but his stipend is not specified. At the same time he was minister at Al- 
ness, Kiltearn, and Limlair, with a stipend of 66. 135. 4d. Scots, or $. I is. sterling, 
and the kirk lands. 

The date of his appointment as parson of Kiltearn was apparently between 1560 
and 1563 that church, as well as those of Alness and Limlair, being Prebends of 
the Cathedral of Ross his total stipend being then 2!. 155. 8d. 

In " The Booke of the Universall Kirk of Scotland," printed in 1839 by the Mait- 
land Club, occur the following notices of the Commissioner of Ross, on pages 34, 40 
51, 63, 175, 257, and 282 respectively : 

"June 26, 1563. Commission was given to Mr Donald Monro to plant kirks 
within the bounds of Rosse ; to endure only for a year." 

On the 27th December following, the General Assembly found that "it was com- 
plained that he (Donald Munro) was not so apt to teach as his charge required," and 
certain clergymen were " ordained to take a tryall of his gift, and to report to the 
Assemblie." 

" June 3Oth, 1564. Mr Donald Munro his commission to plant kirks within Rosse 
was continued for a year. " 

On the 28th of June of the following year, complaints were given in by Mr Munro 
against the Ross-shire ministers for non-residence at their kirks. 

The General Assembly, on the 5th of July 1570, ordered assistance to be given 
him as Commissioner of Ross, because he " was not prompt in the Scottish tongue" 
the Gaelic language. 

On the 6th of March 1573, "the Assemblie, for certain causes moving them, 
continued," among other ministers, " Mr Donald Munro in the office of Commission- 
arie to plant kirks till the next General Assemblie " ; and his appointment as Com- 
missioner of Ross was renewed for the last time at Edinburgh, on the 6th of August 
I 573) "till the next Assemblie." 

A successor was appointed on the 6th of March 1575 ; and it is probable that he 
died about the same time, and certainly before the year 1589, when his successor, 
Robert Munro, third son of John Munro II. of Balconie, grandson of Hugh Munro I. 
of Coul, was parson of Kiltearn. 

Tradition states that Donald Munro lived at Castle Craig (the ruins of which still 
remain), on the opposite side of the Cromarty Firth, which he crossed by boat, and 
preached on Sabbaths in one of his churches Kiltearn, Alness, or Limlair. He was 
evidently a man of some eminence in his time, and inclined to literary pursuits, and 
topographical as well as genealogical research. At first he was doubtless a priest of 
the Roman Catholic Church, but on the dawn of the Reformation he followed the 



144 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

example of his relative and chief, Robert Munro, XV. Baron of Fowlis, and became 
a Protestant, when he must have been a man of middle age. It is much to be 
regretted that a fuller account of his career is not now available, or known to exist. 

The Rev. Dr John Kennedy of Dingwall, in his "Fathers of Ross- shire," page 4, 
has the following reference to Commissioner Munro : " It was in 1563 the first ray 
of Reformation light broke through the darkness of Ross-shire. By the General 
Assembly of that year, Mr Donald Munro was appointed ' Commissioner of Ross. ' 
The Lord came with him to his work, and before seven years had passed, the cause 
of truth had made such progress in Easter Ross, where he chiefly laboured (?), as to 
attract the notice of ' Good Regent Murray ;' who presented to the people of Tain a 
pulpit for their church, as an acknowledgment of their zeal." I am, yours, &c., 

Milnton Cottage, ALEX. ROSS. 

Alness, November 1883. 



THE "CLACHNAHAGAIG" STONE. 

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

SIR, As I find that the conclusion of my argument respecting the above Stone 
has been omitted in the letter you were good enough to publish in your last number, 
may I request the favour that you will next month find a corner for what follows : 

The ground I took up in my former letter was that there is no evidence that the 
" Clachnahagaig" of James VI. 's Charter was the same as the Clachnahalaig Stone 
mentioned on the plans and in title-deeds ; but I intended further to show ttiat, even 
as to the position of the latter stone itself, there is much room for difference of opinion; 
and at the end of my letter, as it appeared, I adverted to the evidence adduced by Mr 
Fraser- Mackintosh in reference to the erection of the present stone on the Canal Bank. 

I intended, however, and now wish, to cite important evidence in favour of my 
latter contention. In Decree of Special and General Service of Isabella Rose or 
Innes and others, dated 7th June, recorded in Chancery 8th June, and in Register of 
Sasines 1 2th July 1869, the Dunain Salmon Fishings are described as "on the water of 
Ness and Lake of Ness or Loch Ness, from the March Stone called Clachnahalig, 
at and in the said Loch." (The italics are mine.) This is from the title of the vendors 
of the Estate of Dunain, from whom Sir John Ramsden acquired it, which, therefore, 
regulated his rights. In conveying the fishings, however, which he sold to Mr 
Fountaine Walker, Sir John inserted the following description of the site of Clach- 
nahalig, which, I believe, I am fully justified in saying is not to be found anywhere 
in his own titles. He assumed to give "the sole and exclusive right of fishing for 
salmon and all other fish in the River Ness, ex adverse of that part of the northern 
bank thereof formerly part of the said lands and Estate of Dunain, but now the 
property of the Caledonian Canal Commissioners, extending from the Stone called 
Clachnahalig, situated at the point where, prior to the formation of said Canal, the 
lands of Dunain marched with the lands of Bught, up the river to a point now indi- 
cated by a march stone recently erected by me directly opposite the centre of the 
mouth of the Laggan Burn." 

As the above facts are, I conceive, most important as traversing Mr Fraser- 
Mackintosh's assertion that the site of Clachnahalig has been unnecessarily questioned, 
my reply to that assertion cannot be complete without their publication. I am, &c., 

London. ANGUS MACKINTOSH. 



THE 

CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



CONDUCTED BY 



ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A., Scot 
No. C. FEBRUARY 1884. VOL. IX. 

THE HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 
By the EDITOR. 

XIII. 

SIR EWEN CAMERON Continued. FINAL SETTLEMENT OF 
THE ANCIENT FEUD WITH MACKINTOSH. 

LOCHIEL and his clan lived in peace during 1659, though con- 
siderable commotion was going on at headquarters. When his 
good friend, General Monk, resolved upon supporting the Scot- 
tish Parliament against the English Generals, Lochiel determined 
to join him, and accompanied him in his famous expedition to 
Engi nd, which resulted in the Restoration of Charles II. in 
1660. f His reputation had preceded Lochiel in the south, and he 
was treated with the greatest civility and consideration, wherever 
he went, by the English people, who came in crowds to meet the 
Scottish Army, expecting deliverance at their hands, praying for 
their success, and petitioning for a free Parliament in England. 
Lochiel, who was the guest of Monk during the celebrated march 
to London, was carefully provided for in suitable quarters on his 
arrival. The General had him along with himself on all occa- 
sions where there was opportunity of doing him honour, and 
when the King made his triumphant entry to the city, "the 

I 



146 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

General desired Lochiel to keep all the way as near to him as 
he possibly could ; and when his Majesty alighted, it was his own 
fault but he held the King's stirrup, as he had an inviting 
opportunity. The effect of his modesty, or rather bushfulness, 
he had some reason to repent of, for another, who had more 
assurance, got before him and performed that office, for which he 
was royally rewarded." He was, however, afterwards introduced 
to kiss the King's hands ; when he was received very graciously, 
the General having previously made known who he was, and the 
nature of his merit and services to the Crown. He was also 
introduced to the Dukes of York and Gloucester. General 
Middleton had already made the former fully acquainted with 
Lochiel's position and past history, especially as to the incident 
of biting out the Englishman's throat at Achadalew, which had 
become a leading subject of conversation in Court circles. The 
Duke of York especially received him most graciously, with marks 
of esteem and favour, and on several occasions he took pleasure in 
chaffing him about the famous mouthful, and other incidents 
of his early life. 

The garrison at Inverlochy was ordered South, when by an 
order of General Monk to Colonel Hill, then governor, the 
houses and all the material which could not be shipped was 
granted to Lochiel ; while, at the same time, the key of the 
fortress itself was given up to him. The order is dated, i8th of 
June 1660, at Cockpitt, where General Monk then resided. But 
while Lochiel was thus in favour at Court, he was not yet 
destined to be free from trouble in his own country, though, for 
a time at least, his quarrels were not of a sanguinary nature. 

The Marquis of Argyll having been brought to trial before 
the Scottish Parliament, condemned and executed, in 1661, 
turned out most unfortunately for the Camerons. Lochiel's 
uncle, Donald Cameron, who had been his tutor during his 
minority, and two others of his relations, having advanced to 
Argyll, between 1650 and 1660, the sum of 16,345 merks, ob- 
tained a mortgage from him of a certain property which had 
been forfeited by the Marquis of Huntly and granted to Argyll, 
and as an additional security, he gave them a warranty over the 
estates of Suinart and Ardnamurchan, then Argyll's property. 
Having been duly infefted in these lands, his relatives made them 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 147 

over to Lochiel. On the death of Argyll, Huntly had the estates 
regranted to him free of all the debts, and Lochiel was thus left 
with nothing but his claim upon Suinart and Ardnamurchan. 
Parliament acknowledged this claim, and recommended that a 
charter of tl ic lands should be granted to him "suitable to the 
extent of the sum" advanced by his relatives, but in consequence 
of the crafty and able tactics of his great enemy, the Duke 
of Lauderdale, he was unsuccessful in the end, though Monk, now 
Duke of Albemarle, Middleton, and the Crown were all in his 
favour. " The King, being perpetually dunned by the continued 
application of the greatest men of his Court, at last ordered 
Lauderdale to present the signature or grant of these lands to be 
superscribed by his Majesty, according to the usual form ; and 
this being part of his office, as principal Secretary of State, he 
was obliged, after repeated orders, to comply at last. But when 
the grant came to be laid before the King, he took care that there 
should not be as much ink in the pen as would suffice to write 
the superscription, so that when his Majesty had wrote the word 
' Charles' he wanted ink to add ' Rex,' and though the King often 
called for more," not another drop could be procured at the time, 
and the matter was left in that incomplete state, while Lauder- 
dale induced several of Lochiel's enemies to raise actions against 
him for old scores, thus for the time skilfully diverting his atten- 
tion from his claims on the lands in question. 

The Earl of Callender succeeded in getting Parliament 
to grant him a claim against Lochiel for acts committed before 
the Restoration, but our hero was afterwards acquitted, the Earl 
being unable to substantiate the details of his claim before a 
Commission appointed for the purpose. 

About the same time Mackintosh again began to press his 
ancient claims to the lands of Glenlui and Locharkaig. With 
the nature of this claim the reader is already acquainted. 
On the advice of Lauderdale, Mackintosh, in 1661, petitioned 
Parliament, and ultimately obtained a decree adjudging the lands 
to him, and ordering Lochiel not only to divest himself of the 
property, but to find security that neither he nor his clan should 
for the future molest Mackintosh nor his tenants in the peace- 
able possession thereof, under a penalty of 20,000 merks. This 
happened in Lochiel's absence, he being at the time at Court in 



148 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

London, pushing his claims to the lands of Suinart and Ardna- 
murchan, and to a pension of 300 sterling per annum which 
the King agreed to grant him, but never effectually carried out. 
The action of Parliament in this matter the Court of Session held 
to be an encroachment upon its privileges. The Chancellor, Lord 
Glencairne, wrote a letter to the " Lord President and Lords of 
Session, now sitting at Edinburgh," dated London, ?th June 1661, 
to the following effect : 

" Since I came to this place, I understand his Majesty has taken such notice of 
the Laird of Lochiell his faithful service done to him, that he has proposed a way 
for composing the difference betwixt Mackintosh and him, which will shortly come to 
your hands: * I shall desire you, therefore, if Mackintosh offer to take advantage of 
Lochiell his absence, or to prevent his Majesty's commands by insisting in action 
before you against Lochiell, now in his absence, that you continue the action until you 
know his Majesty's further pleasure, which will be signified to you by my return. 
This being all at present. I am, my Lords, &c., 

(Signed) "GLENCAIRNE." 

The Lords of Session at once intimated the receipt of 
this letter to the Parliament and Privy Council, with the result 
that nothing was done until July 1662, when Mackintosh ob- 
tained a Decree of Removal against Lochiel and his clan from 
the lands in question, based on the sentence of Parliament of the 
previous year. The question was debated before the Lords of 
Session by the ablest men at the bar, and reasons given on both 
sides, for which much could be said ; but legally, Lochiel had the 
worst of it, and decree went against him. He had, however, 
great influence at Court, and he determined to use it in this 
emergency. He at once petitioned the King, who gave him a 
private audience, and listened patiently to all he had to say. 
Lochiel urged upon his Majesty to interpose his authority, and 
compel Mackintosh to accept a sum of money in lieu of his 
claim for restitution of the lands ; pointing out that, as the 
Camerons were, and had been, in possession for centuries, 
they would never give up the lands and their dwellings without 
great bloodshed. He foresaw the consequences of attempting to 
remove them by force, and he had good reasons to conclude that 
this would be the last occasion on which he himself would have 
the honour of seeing his King. " He had," he said, " been a 
great part of his youth a fugitive and outlaw for his attempting 
to serve his Majesty ; but that gave him no great pain, because 



HISTORY OF THE CAMKRONS. 149 

he suffered in a glorious cause, and only shared in the common 
calamities of his country, but henceforth he must resolve to live 
among hills and deserts, a fugitive and vagabond, merely 
because he was the Chief of a clan for whom, though he was 
bound by the law, he was sure he could not answer when they 
came to be dispossessed by the ancient enemy of his family." 
To this his Majesty replied " Lochiel, I know that you 
were a faithful servant to the Crown, and that you have often, 
with great bravery, hazarded your life and fortune in that 
cause ; fear not that you shall be long an outlaw, whatever shall 
happen in that quarrel, while I have the power of granting a re- 
mission ; but as to the affairs of law and private right, I will not 
meddle with it, but shall write to my Council to endeavour to 
compromise matters, so as to prevent public disturbance. In 
the meantime, I think it your interest to hinder Mackintosh's 
attaining to possession ; and I assure you that neither life nor 
estate shall be in danger while I can save them." Lochiel felt 
naturally much encouraged by the reception he had received, 
and by the encouragement given him by the King. He informed 
the Duke of Albemarle of what had passed between them, and 
urged upon him to do all in his power to keep Mackintosh from 
getting into favour at Court. His Grace promised every assist- 
ance. The Duke of York, to whom Lochiel was previously 
known, used his influence with the King in his behalf. His 
Royal Highness had also recommended him to the Earl of 
Clarendon, then Prime Minister, and to several others of the 
leading men at Court, but the Earl of Lauderdale still continued 
his implacable enemy, and went the length of opposing the King 
writing to his Commissioners in Scotland in Lochiel's favour, as 
long as he could; but his Majesty having determined that his 
wishes in this should be at once carried out, the following letter 
was addressed " To our Right Trusty and Right Well-beloved 
Cousin and Counsellor, the Earl of Middleton, our Commissioner 
to our Parliament in Scotland": 
" CHARLES REX, 

"Right Trusty and Well-beloved Cousine and Counsellour, wee 
greit yow well. We haveing formerly written to our Privy Councill about the differ- 
ence likely to arise betwixt the Lairds of Macintoish and Locheill, we are still of the 
same opinion that though we will not meddle in the point of law or right, which (we 
are informed) is already determined, yet we have thought fitt to recommend to your 



1 50 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

care, to endeavour so to settle and agree them as the peace of those parts be not dis- 
turbed. Given att Hampton Court, the 3Oth May 1662, and of our reign the I4th 
year. 

" By his Majesty's command. (Signed) " LAUDERDAILL." 

Lochiel returned from London, and arrived in Edinburgh 
about the same time as this letter, when he found that a warrant 
for his seizure and imprisonment had been obtained by Mackin- 
tosh during his absence. He at once petitioned the Privy 
Council for protection. His request was granted, but it was 
only available to the 24th of June immediately following. Dur- 
ing this interval he married his second wife, a daughter of Sir 
Lachlan Maclean of Duart ; and having done all he could to secure 
the active interest of his friends in Parliament and in the Privy 
Council, he left Edinburgh before his order of protection had 
expired, and in due time arrived with his young lady safely in 
Lochaber, to the great joy and gratification of his devoted clans- 
men. 

Through Lauderdale's influence in the Privy Council, the 
King's letter was not read until the 4th of September following, 
and in the interval Mackintosh petitioned for a Commission of 
Fire and Sword against Lochiel and his friends. Through the 
influence of the Commissioner and Chancellor, Mackintosh, on 
this occasion, failed in his object; but in 1663 he was more suc- 
cessful, and obtained a warrant charging Lochiel to appear before 
the Council within fifteen days, upon certification that, if he did 
not, their Lordships would issue a Commission of Fire and Sword 
against him. He received information of what had occurred 
through his friend the Chancellor, but resolved not to appear, 
and the commission against him was issued. Among those 
named and authorised to execute it were the Marquis of Mon- 
trose, the Earls of Caithness, Murray, Athole, Errol, Marshall, 
Mar, Dundee, Airlie, Aboyne, and several others of the leading 
men in the Lowlands as well as in the Highlands. Letters of 
Concurrence and Intercommuning, or Outlawry were issued 
against Lochiel, and the whole Clan Cameron ; while all the men 
between sixteen and sixty years of age in the Counties of In- 
verness, Ross, Nairn, and Perth, were ordered to convene in 
arms, and put the law in execution against "these rebels and 
outlaws," whenever Mackintosh should consider it fit to call 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 151 

them together for that purpose. On his return to Dunachton, 
Mackintosh wrote to each of those named in the Commission, and 
afterwards visited them in person, urging upon them the neces- 
sity of preparing to carry out the Council's commands, but not 
one of them would move. On the contrary, they strongly opposed 
the action which he proposed, and urged upon him to accept the 
money payment which Lochiel was willing to give in satisfaction 
of his claim. Mackintosh then resolved to punish the Came- 
rons by his own clan, with any of the neighbours which he could 
induce to join him. In this he was also unsuccessful, and Lochiel, 
in the meantime, to show his determination and ability to fight, 
sent several parties to the enemy's country, with instructions to 
carry away the cattle of such of the Mackintoshes as were still 
willing to follow their Chief on the proposed expedition to Loch- 
aber. Mackintosh showed fight, and at once sent a party of his 
men on a similar expedition to Lochaber. Ultimately he 
arranged with his followers by granting them several demands 
which he had previously refused them, and so induced them 
to agree to follow him going the length, in the case of the 
Macphersons, of granting " a renunciation of any title or pretence 
he had to the Chiefship, and a premium of 100 sterling" for their 
services on this occasion. 

Lochiel was able to keep himself fully informed of his 
enemy's proceedings, and being so far in favour with the princi- 
pal Lords of Parliament and of the Privy Council, he succeeded 
in procuring an order, signed by the Duke of Rothes, then 
January 1665 the King's Commissioner to Parliament,command- 
ing Mackintosh to appear in Edinburgh within a certain number 
of days, and directing him not to put his Commission of Fire 
and Sword in force until the pleasure of the Privy Council was 
made further known to him. Mackintosh reluctantly obeyed, 
but complained bitterly of the action taken against him. To this 
he received no reply but a peremptory command to remain in 
the city until Lochiel, who had also been sent for, should arrive. 
On the appointed day a meeting of the Privy Council was held, 
at which the Commissioner, Chancellor, all the principal Officers 
of State, and others in authority, were present. Both Lochiel 
and Mackintosh put in an appearance, and the King's letter 
was read in their hearing. The Chancellor stated that his 



152 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Majesty's zeal for the welfare and happiness of his people, and 
the particular commands which he had in consequence laid upon 
his Parliament and Council to endeavour to bring about a recon- 
ciliation between the parties by way of compromise, could not 
but have its due influence, and dispose them " to agree to such 
measures as should be agreeable to justice and the wisdom 
of his Majesty's Council." In answer to the questions put to 
them, both answered that they were willing to submit the dispute 
between them to the arbitration of the Privy Council. A few 
days later they were again called before the Council, when it 
was intimated to them that the Council had satisfied themselves 
as to the value of the lands in question, and the nature of all the 
questions in dispute. After a long argument the Chancellor re- 
commended that they should, by the aid of friends, agree upon a 
price to be paid by Lochiel, stating at the same time that, 
failing this, the Council would proceed to settle the question. 
Lochiel and Mackintosh, with the aid of powerful friends and 
lawyers on either side, tried to come to an agreement, but they 
still differed so much that there was not the least probability of 
any terms being agreed upon. Within eight days they were 
again called before the Council, when it was declared, through 
the Chancellor, as their unanimous decision, that a sum of 
72,000 merks paid by Lochiel to Mackintosh would be a just 
amount between the demands of the one and the offers 
of the other, and the Council decreed accordingly. Mack- 
intosh would scarcely listen to this proposal, and he resolved 
to remove privately out of the city, without coming to any 
arrangement. His intentions were, however, discovered, and just 
as he was leaving he was arrested by order of the Council, and 
detained captive until he found security that he and his clan 
and followers should keep the peace. He finally offered volun- 
tarily to delay the execution of his Commission against Lochiel 
for a year longer, on condition that the Council would agree to 
dispense with his finding caution for any but his own tenants. 
Lochiel and the Council agreed, and Mackintosh was allowed to 
return home. He, however, no sooner reached his destination 
than he called all the leaders of his clan to an entertainment, 
with their friends and followers, at his own house, and by granting 
such demands as they had been for some time making upon him, 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 153 

induced them to subscribe a bond, obliging them to follow him 
in an expedition to Lochaber whenever he might call upon them 
to do so. 

Lochiel, who was kept fully informed of what Mackintosh 
was doing, wrote to his friend, the Earl of Moray, then Sheriff of 
Inverness-shire, asking his lordship to hold his usual Circuit 
Courts in Badenoch, Strathspey, and neighbouring districts 
where the Macphersons, and others, who usually followed Mack- 
intosh, resided and as his vassals were bound to attend the Earl 
on such occasions, they would not be able to follow Mackintosh. 
This plan was at once adopted by Moray, after which he marched 
to Inverness, to settle some disputes there between the Town 
and the Macdonalds. 

At this time attempts were made among certain of his own 
friends to dissuade Mackintosh from proceeding to extremities, 
but he would listen to nothing but the carrying out of his own 
views ; and he finally marched, at the head of an army of 1 500 
men to Lochaber, reaching the plain of Clunes, on the west side 
of the River Arkaig, where he encamped. 

In connection with this expedition, we are informed that, 
" Lochiel, having heard that Mackintosh was on his march, thought 
it full time to provide for his defence, and in a few days he got to- 
gether his whole clan ; who, having been prepared beforehand, and 
willing for the service, were sooner with him than he expected. 
He was likewise joined by a small party of the Maclans of 
Glencoe, and another of the Macgregors, who offered their 
services as volunteers ; and found, upon the muster, that he had 
got 900 armed with guns, broadswords, and targes, and 300 more 
who had bows in place of guns ; and it is remarkable that these 
were the last considerable company of bowmen that appeared in 
the Highlands. With these he marched straight to Achnacarry, 
and encamped on the bank of the River Arkaig," immediately 
opposite the Mackintoshes, thus securing the only ford on the river. 
Here they remained facing each other for two days, after which 
Mackintosh moved his men two miles further west along the side 
of Loch- Arkaig. Lochiel, after throwing up an embankment at the 
ford, left it in charge of fifty doughty fellows, moved his main 
body westward, and took up his position opposite the Mackin- 
toshes. Here he called a Council of War, and informed his 



154 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

friends of his determination to settle the long-standing feud now, 
once and for all, by the sword. He expressed his full confidence 
in his men, and told them that as he had the King's promise of a 
remission, he had no apprehensions as to the result; concluding 
by telling them " that if any of them wanted inclination to engage, 
and had not put on a fixed resolution to die or conquer, he begged 
of them to retire, and he would afford them such opportunities 
as would save their honour." Such a cowardly action was 
spurned by every one present, and Lochiel determined to exe- 
cute his plans that very night. In the meantime, John Camp- 
bell, younger of Glenurchy, afterwards First Earl of Breadalbane, 
who had been sent by the Earl of Argyll, arrived, and presented 
himself to Mackintosh with proposals of peace. A prelim- 
inary conference was arranged. The first day's deliberations 
produced no result. At a second meeting certain proposals 
were made to which the friends of both parties agreed, but 
Mackintosh rejected them, declaring that he would rather hazard 
his whole fortune than consent to such terms. His leading 
followers rebelled, refused to fight under existing conditions, 
but Mackintosh continued unbending. Next morning, however, 
his friends found him more willing to listen to reason. They 
offered to make up the difference in .money themselves, and 
finally succeeded in inducing him to consent to the absolute 
sale of the lands to Lochiel on the terms previously offered, and 
now repeated by him, namely, 72,500, or just 500 merks more 
than the sum named as a fair compromise by the Privy 
Council a few years before. Mr Mackintosh - Shaw de- 
scribes the final settlement in the following terms, which are 
quite consistent with the more detailed account given in 
" Lochiel's Memoirs " : While Mackintosh was undergoing the 
persuasive attempts of his friends, young Glenurchy had arrived 
at the Clan Chattan camp, and had shown additional reasons 
why those attempts ought to succeed in a force of 300 men which 
accompanied him, and in a written order from the Earl of Argyll 
to employ all the power of the latter, if necessary, to bring the 
dispute to an end. Campbell's arrival, and Mackintosh's assent, 
seem to have taken place at an opportune moment, as Lochiel 
had concocted one of the surprises for which he was famed, and 
in which he was generally successful. On the preceding night 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 155 

he had dispatched Cameron of Erracht, with a body of picked 
men by boats, to the northern side of Loch-Arkaig, there to re- 
main concealed until an opportunity should present itself of 
taking the enemy by surprise. He himself was, in the meantime, 
to make his way with the main body by the head of the 
loch to the same place, a distance of some eighteen English 
miles. He had not advanced far on his march when he 
was met by young Glenurchy, bringing back with him Er- 
racht and his party. It was only by advancing the same 
cogent reasons which he had already urged upon Mackintosh 
that Glenurchy could prevail on Lochiel to give up his inten- 
tion of righting, and to consent to the agreement into which 
his opponent was now willing to enter. On the following day 
(Monday, i8th September), a formal contract was drawn up and 
signed, on the one hand binding Mackintosh to sell Glenlui 
and Locharkig to Lochiel, or any person he might nominate, 
and on the other binding Lochiel and six others to pay to Mack- 
intosh 12,500 merks of the price in the town of Perth on the 
1 2th of January 1666, and at the same time to give sufficient 
security for the payment of the remainder of the price at the 
Martinmas terms of 1666 and 1667. On the 2oth, Lochiel 
crossed the Arkaig, and met his late enemy at the house of 
Clunes. Both were attended by their principal friends and 
clansmen. They " saluted each other," says the Kinrara MS., 
" drank together in token of perfect reconciliation, and exchanged 
swords, rejoicing at the extinction of the ancient feud." The feud 
had raged for three centuries and a-half, during which time, says 
tradition, with its usual looseness of expression, a Mackintosh and 
a Cameron had never even spoken together.* 

The author of the Memoirs informs us that " Lochiel, 
though much fretted at the disconcerting of his measures, was 
still resolved to fight the enemy the very next day [after his 
arrival], and to continue his march, but Breadalbane [Glenurchy] 
told him roundly that he was equally allied to them both ; that 
he came there to act the part of a mediator ; and whoever of 
them proved refractory, he would not only join with the other 
against him, but also would bring all the power that Argyll was 
master of, with his own, into the quarrel ; and he thereupon 
* " History of the Mackintoshes and Clan Chattan," pp. 381-382. 



156 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

showed a communication he had from the Earl of Argyll to that 
purpose. Lochiel found himself under the necessity of consent- 
ing ; and his firm resolution of fighting had this good effect that 
it hastened on the agreement, and in a manner compelled Mack- 
intosh, who was pushed on by his people, to consent to these 
very proposals that had been formerly made by the Privy Council 
and afterwards by the Earl of Murray," on Lochiel's behalf. 
This agreement was concluded on the 2Oth of September 
1665, about 360 years after the commencement of the quarrel, 
which was, perhaps, one of the longest duration mentioned 
in history, and, considering the strength of the parties, as 
bloody as any that we have any record of. Though Mack- 
intosh gained nothing, Lochiel lost largely by it in men 
and property, and the final settlement was considered as 
favourable by the Camerons and their friends as they could 
possibly expect in the circumstances, though during the long 
period of the dispute they, in defence of their claim and 
position, "gave away or abandoned their original inheritance, 
which was four times above this in value, as their original char- 
ters from the Lords of the Isles, all confirmed by King James 
IV., with the charters granted by succeeding Princes, erecting the 
whole into a free Barony, with many powers and privileges, testify 
to this day ; and all this, besides the loss of the pension of three 
hundred pounds sterling per annum," already mentioned, and of 
Suinart and Ardnamurchan, which now belonged to the Earl of 
Argyll, with the rest of his father's forfeiture, by a grant from the 
Crown. 

(To be continued.) 



TO THE CLAN CAMERON. The Editor of the Celtic Magazine will esteem 
it a favour if members of the Clan Cameron will communicate with him, on an early 
day, with the view of completing full and correct genealogies of the respective branch 
families of the name, for his forthcoming "History of the Camerons." It is im- 
possible for him to include the living and later members of the various branches in 
the work unless he is supplied, at least, with particulars as to the present generation. 
This has been already done in several cases. The complete work will contain, in ad- 
dition to the General History of the Clan, Biographies of General Sir Allan Cameron 
of Erracht ; Colonel John Cameron of Fassiefern ; Dr Archibald Cameron ; and 
other distinguished gentlemen of the Clan, and will be published by subscription, 
during the year, in a handsome volume of about five hundred pages, uniform with the 
author's " History of the Mackenzies," and his " History of the Macdonalds and 
Lords of the Isles. The Camerons of Glennevis, Erracht, Callart, Strone, Fassiefern, 
Clunes, and others, will be noticed at length under separate headings, while a gene- 
alogy of the Lochiel family will be brought down to date, in connection with the 
general history of the family. 



157 



ANCIENT CELTIC TENURES. 
BY H. C. MACANDREW, PROVOST OF INVERNESS. 



II. 

THE law of succession is of course a powerful factor in regulating 
the development of any society. In the cases of the Mensal 
land of the chiefs there were instances of undivided succession ; 
in the case of the Church lands there were instances of corporate 
and continuous possession. In the case of the families of the 
Flaths or chiefs there is described a very artificial and compli- 
cated system of a family of seventeen persons, consisting of three 
groups of four and one of five, and representing the relations 
of the chiefs in four different degrees, he himself being the fifth 
member of one group. These had certain complicated rights 
of succession among the groups on the extinction of any of 
them, which it is very difficult to understand, and which could 
hardly have been long in practical operation. Apart from this, the 
rule seems to have been that of gavel-kind, as it is called in Eng- 
land ; that is equal distribution among children, and under this 
custom in Ireland, daughters might succeed if there were no sons; 
and there was a certain power of bequest. 

If I am at all correct in the picture which I have here given, 
it is clear that there was a state of society in which the idea of 
individual property in land, or of the exclusive right to the 
possession and enjoyment of land, had gone a considerable way, 
and if further evidence of this were wanting, numerous instances 
could be given of regulations for the letting of land on hire. On 
the other hand, there are many provisions showing that the power 
of dealing with land was limited by the rights of the tribe and of 
the family, and although in the Book of Armagh, whose date is 
about the year 800, there is a case of a sale of land recorded in 
the following terms : " Cummin and Brethan purchased Ochter- 
n-Achid with its appurtenances, both wood and field, and plain 
and meadow, together with its habitation and its garden " this 
seems to be a solitary instance of a direct sale, while it seems to 
be an excellent description of the early settlement. While thus 



158 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

we have individual rights limited by tribal and family rights, it 
must always be kept in mind that there existed the undoubted 
right of the free tribesman to a share of the common tribe land 
and grazing on the tribe waste or common. 

In the case of Ireland, outside the pale, as I have said, the 
Brehon Law continued in force until the time of James the First, 
when, by a decision of the Court, it was abolished, and the law 
of England imposed on the country, and, as a consequence, all 
rights subordinate to those of chiefs ignored. The state of 
matters which then existed on land which had not previously 
been forfeited and granted to Englishmen is thus described by 
Sir John Davis, Attorney-General for Ireland, in 1606. In 
speaking of M'Guire's country, he says : "Touching the free land, 
we found them to be of three kinds : (i) Church lands, or termon 
lands as the Irish call it ; (2) the Mensal lands of M'Guire ; and 
(3) land given to certain septs privileged among the Irish, viz., 
the lands of the chroniclers, rimers, and gallowglasses " the last 
representing, as I take it, the free tribesmen. 

There is no existing evidence that any such code of laws as 
the Brehon Laws was ever committed to writing in Scotland, 
but there is, I think, ample evidence that the picture I have 
attempted to draw was as applicable to Celtic Scotland previous 
to the time of Malcolm Canmore as it was to Ireland. In the 
Book of Deer we have mention of gifts by Toseichs, Mormaers, 
and chiefs of clans ; and we have grants by these showing that 
they had each certain rights in the land, or rights to certain 
duties and tributes out of it. Thus, grants are given free of 
Mormaer and Toseich, that is free of the payments and services 
which these could exact. There is mention also of Brehons or 
Judges, and in old charters and other records we find numerous 
mention of duties and services, exactly analogous to those of the 
Brehon Laws existing in Scotland, to comparatively recent dates. 
To adduce proofs of this would occupy much too great a space 
for our present purpose, but those who are interested in the 
subject will find it fully discussed in the third volume of Skene's 
" History of Celtic Scotland," and in his appendix to the second 
volume of " Fordun's Chronicle," recently published. 

The ancient law of Scotland was not, as in Ireland, all at 
once abolished by statute or by decision of a court or of a king; 



ANCIENT CELTIC TENURES. 159 

but from the time of Malcolm MacKenneth it was subjected to 
contact with, and the influence from, other systems, which gradu- 
ally obliterated all its distinctive features. This began with the 
acquisition of Lothian in 1018, and increased with the accession 
of Malcolm Canmore and his marriage with the Saxon Princess, 
Margaret. And 1 during his time, and the times of his immediate 
successors, Saxon language and Saxon law and customs spread 
over the country outside the Highland line. With the Norman 
conquest of England, Norman and Feudal ideas began to pene- 
trate into Scotland, till in the time of David I. the country 
became a Feudal Monarchy ; and it was assumed, although never 
formally enacted, that all the land in the country belonged to the 
King, and that there could be no legal title to land except a grant 
from the King, or from some person holding a grant from him. 
Under these influences, the Mormaers became earls, and ultimately 
the earldoms all became feudalised, although there long down, at 
least, to the time of the War of Independence remained a distinc- 
tion between the ancient earldoms of Scotland and the newerfeudal 
earldoms created by the kings. The Toseichs became Thanes, 
and a number of Thanages existed for a very considerable time 
principally on the borders of the Highlands, and never penetrat- 
ing far within the Highland line, but these gradually were lost 
or were converted into Feudal Baronies the only one where 
the name is retained, so far as I know, being Cawdor the lands 
possessed by Lord Cawdor being still designated in his charters 
as the barony, or, perhaps now, the earldom and thanage of 
Cawdor. 

From the time of David First it may be said that the Feudal 
Law was the law acknowledged by the supreme power, and in 
the parts of the country where the Saxon language prevailed, it 
was the law in practice as well as in theory, although vestiges of 
the old Celtic usages lingered long, especially on the lands held 
by the Church, and on the lands which remained in the hands of 
the Crown. 

In the district of the country where the Gaelic language pre- 
vailed, however, older ideas remained, and had vital force until 
the power of the central government became supreme after the 
last rebellion, and feudal ideas made their way very slowly, 
although there is no doubt that they were gradually penetrating. 



160 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE, 

The vigour with which the tie of kindred remained in force is in- 
stanced by the Clan system itself, and by the superiority which 
the tie of clanship bore to any tie arising from mere relationship 
arising out of the land. Of this there are instances without 
number : Landed gentlemen who held their land on the same 
tenure as the chiefs themselves that is, from the Crown or from 
some intermediate superior followed the chief rather than the 
feudal superior. Tenants who held their lands from alien land- 
lords followed the chief to whom by blood they owed allegiance. 
Of this, too, there are numerous and well-known instances. That 
there remained an idea of a right to land better and older than 
any feudal title, is likewise proved by many well-known instances. 
Dunmaglass was purchased by the family of Cawdor from 
William Menzies in 1419, but the Macgillivrays possessed it 
then, and had possessed it from time immemorial, and continued 
to possess it until after 1621, when they acquired first a wadset, 
and afterwards a feudal right. Before they acquired a written 
title they held by " Duchus " or native right, but they were in law 
only tenants of the Thane of Cawdor. But while he held by 
" Duchus," and when he was a feudal vassal of the Thane, the head 
of the house of Macgillivray was an important member of the Clan 
Chattan, and commanded the clan at Culloden, although his 
feudal superior was a Whig. Lochiel held Glenlui and Loch- 
Arkaig for 360 years in spite of written charters in favour of 
Mackintosh of Mackintosh, and only acquired a written title in 
1666, and by a transaction which was carried through in front of 
two hostile armies which were met to contest the right. The 
Macdonalds of Keppoch fought the last clan battle in the year 
of the great Revolution in defence of their native right to the 
ancient habitation of the tribe, as against the paper right of the 
Mackintosh ; and in 1745, when the head of the sept was in law 
only a tenant of Mackintosh, he led his tribe to Culloden in the 
following of his natural chief, Glengarry. On the other hand, 
it cannot be doubted that the legal possession of land tended 
more and more to become a powerful factor in the development 
which was going on. The Erasers of Lovat were a Norman 
family who came to this country and acquired land in quite 
historic times, and yet they very shortly became the heads of 
a powerful and united clan. Whether the founder of the 



ANCIENT CELTIC TENURES. 161 

Chiefship of the Mackenzies was a Fitzgerald or native High- 
lander, he also, in comparatively recent times, rose to power, 
and became the head of a, so to speak, homogeneous clan. It is 
evident, however, that all the Frasers, or all the Mackenzies, could 
not be blood relations of the chief, and that the tie of clanship 
arose, to some extent at all events, out of the possession of land ; 
but the readiness with which the belief in community of race was 
accepted is, perhaps, as strong a proof as any of the strength of 
the tribal idea. The people could not think of the tie between 
Chief and clan as arising out of anything but common origin, and 
when such common origin did not exist, the fiction that it did 
was accepted as a belief. 

While, therefore, the ancient ideas continued to have force in 
the Highlands, they worked, so to speak, under the ever-deepen- 
ing shadow of the feudal system, and what resulted after the 
break up of the great tribal organisations represented by the 
Mormaerships, and afterwards by the Celtic earldoms, and later, 
as it appears to me, by the descendants of Somerled, who, for 
several centuries exercised so singular a power in the Western 
and Central Highlands a power which, as I think, can only be 
accounted for on the supposition that they were believed to be 
the representatives of the ancient order of things was the clan 
system. The value of feudal titles was very early seen, and 
when we come to have an intimate knowledge of the country in 
later times, we find that it was all, like the rest of Scotland, 
held under feudal tenure, although, as I have said, the feudal 
right of the stranger was often disputed by the ancient possessor. 
But while it is not to be forgotten that feudal rights became 
general, it is always to be borne in mind that the fact that the 
Chiefs or landowners had obtained feudal titles to their land did 
not in any way affect the position, or, according to their view, the 
rights of those who occupied under them; that it was only after a 
time, and then by slow degrees, that the feudal titles would be 
put forward as the foundation of rights which the ancient customs 
did not warrant, and especially that it was only with the increase 
of the power of the central authority to enforce its law that the 
worth of a clansman, as such, came into competition with his 
worth as a tenant or contributor of rent to the Chief. 

The Clan system, although waning, existed, as we know, till 

K 



162 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

the great rebellion of 1745-6, and then it succumbed, notlo the 
force of any law directly abolishing it, but to an Act abolishing 
heritable jurisdictions and certain incidents of feudal holding, and 
which, by converting the Chiefs into mere modern landlords, de- 
prived them to a great degree of the interest which they had 
formerly had in their clansmen, and deprived the clansmen of all 
value to them except as contributors to their revenue. 

We have recently had it laid down that the clan never was 
an institution recognised by the law, and that there now exists no 
means of deciding in what membership of a clan consisted. The 
clan, however, was till recently a very potent fact. It is beyond 
doubt that it was a survival from an earlier state, and it becomes 
interesting to enquire to what extent we can find in what existed 
before the final break up of the clans traces of the much earlier 
social and political condition represented in the Brehon Laws. 

What I say on this subject must, in the first place, be very 
short ; and in the second place must be more or less speculative, 
for the history of the social condition and progress of the High- 
land people has yet to be written. Still, the view I take seems 
to me to represent so very much what we might expect from 
what we know of the causes at work, that it presents itself to my 
mind with considerable force. 

In the first place, then, it appears to me that in the Chief of 
a clan we have the representative, if npt always the successor, of 
the Ri-Tuath or Toseich, the head of a tribe. The Flaths, or 
subordinate Chiefs of families and septs, are represented by the 
heads of the smaller septs in clans, such as the Clan Chattan, by the 
smaller landed proprietors owning a clan allegiance to a superior 
chief, and by the great gentlemen tacksmen holding large tracts of 
land with numerous sub-tenants. All these, I think, represent the 
sept or family within the clan in different stages of development. 
Those septs which had been longest in existence, and were the 
more numerous and powerful, would naturally trace descent from 
their immediate founder, and look on themselves as a sub-race- 
When feudal ideas began to make way, the larger proprietors, or 
holders of separate portions of land, would naturally seek to ob- 
tain feudal rights in their own favour ; and on the other hand, as 
we have seen that all Flaths, or minor chiefs, were more or less 
in a sense ceiles of the? Ri-Tuath or Toseich, inasmuch as they 



ANCIENT CELTIC TENURES. 163 

were bound to submit to the relation implied in taking stock 
from him, it would naturally follow that when the Toseich ob- 
tained a feudal right to the whole tribe land, the Flaths would 
come to be regarded by him as his tenants, and would ultimately 
come to regard themselves as such. That the giving of stock by 
the superior to the inferior survived in the custom of Steelbow 
tenancy, is, I think, beyond question. In the more or less inferior 
septs which we find attached to some clans, and having no Chief of 
their own, we see, I think, the descendants of Fuidirs, or strangers 
and broken men whom the Chiefs had settled on their land, 
although instead of employing them as cultivators, the circum- 
stances of the country rendered it more convenient for the Chiefs 
to employ them as cattle lifters. The Macphies, for instance, 
dwelt on Lochiel's land, and owned him as their Chief, but they 
did not suppose themselves to be of his blood or lineage, and if 
tradition does not belie them, their principal employment was to 
be his thieves. In Donald Bain Lean, in " Waverley," we have 
a modern instance of the Fuidir as employed in the Highlands. 

The most interesting question, however, is that as to where 
we are to look for the representatives in modern times of the 
great body of free tribesmen too poor to be privileged or to be 
much noticed in records or in history, yet inheriting the right of 
free tribesmen to a living on the tribe land. To me it seems be- 
yond all doubt that these are found in the townships and club 
farms which were once so numerous all over the Highlands, and 
which, in a modified, and, it appears to me, somewhat degraded 
form, exist in the crofter communities of to-day. I am aware it 
has been contended, on the evidence of old rentals, that this class 
of small tenants is a modern development, and we are told that 
because they are not to be found in the rentals of the larger pro- 
prietors they did not exist. But it is to be kept in mind that the 
large tacksmen were to a great extent middlemen, and that such 
communities would in later days hold under them, and would 
not appear in the proprietor's rental. That such communities 
were numerous in all parts of the Highlands every one who 
travels over the country may see. That they might exist with- 
out appearing in the proprietor's rental one instance may be suf- 
ficient to show. My friend, Mr William Mackay, has kindly 
shown me an extract which he made from the records of the 



1 64 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Baron Bailie Court of The Chisholm in 1657, where it is set forth 
that upwards of eighty persons were fined in one day for various 
offences. These persons are all described in groups as tenants in 
such and such a place, yet none of them appear in the rent roll 
of the proprietor. That such communities are ancient, may, I 
think, fairly be inferred from the fact that on the lands held by 
Macdonald of Keppoch, the last in Scotland which submitted to 
the feudal laws, there are several of them existing till this day. 
If any one should contend that such communities are a result of 
the modern relation of landlord and tenant, it is only necessary 
for the refutation of such a contention to read the account which 
Mr Carmichael has given of certain townships still existing in 
North Uist, and which is embodied in the third volume of Skene : 

"The townland of Hosta is occupied by four, Caolas Paipil by six, and the 
island of Heisgeir by twelve tenants. Towards the end of autumn, when harvest is 
over, and the fruits of the year have been gathered in, the constable (Constabal, 
Foirfeadeach) calls a meeting of the tenants of the townland for Nabachd (preferably 
Nabuidheachd, neighbourliness). They meet, and having decided upon the portion 
of land (Leob, Clar) to put under green crop next year, they divide it into shares 
according to the number of tenants in the place, and the number of shares in the soil 
they respectively possess. Thereupon they cast lots (Crannachuradh, Cur chrann, 
Tilgeadh chrann, Crannadh), and the share which falls to a tenant he retains for three 
years. A third of the land under cultivation is thus divided every year. Accord- 
ingly, the whole cultivated land of the townland undergoes redivision every three 
years. Should a man get a bad share he is allowed to choose his share in the next 
division. The tenants divide the land into shares of uniform size. For this purpose 
they use a rod several yards long, and they observe as much accuracy in measuring 
their land as a draper in measuring his cloth. In marking the boundary between 
shares, a turf (Tore) is dug up and turned over along the line of demarcation. The 
' tore' is then cut along the middle, and half is taken by the tenant on one side and 
half by the tenant on the other side, in ploughing the subsequent furrow ; similar care 
being afterwards exercised in cutting the corn along the furrow. The tenant's portion 
of the runrig is termed Cianag, and his proportion of the grazing for every pound he 
pays, Coir-sgoraidh." 

This, obviously, is a survival of a very ancient community, and it 
appears to me that wherever there are traces of land having been 
held in runrig, we have traces, of a portion of the ancient free 
tribeland, with its grazing rights attached, common to the 
inhabitants of the township, and perhaps to them in common 
with the inhabitants of other townships, held anciently by the 
tribesmen in right of their membership of the tribe, and subject 
only to the dues and services which, as tribesmen and house- 
holders, they owed to their tribal or family chief. And wherever 



THE HIGHLAND WIDOW. 165 

there is such a holding the individual property of any one, we 
have an instance of the absorption if we may not use a stronger 
word of tribal rights ; accomplished, no doubt, through the course 
of centuries, and latterly, at all events, acquiesced in by the people ; 
for by the time of the breaking up of the Clan system the pos- 
sessors of such holdings seem in common with the larger holders 
to have accepted the position of tenants, either under lease or at 
will. The last relic of the tribal right to land we have, I think, 
surviving, is the dislike to leases which the crofters of this day 
exhibit ; and this dislike can only, I think, have originated in the 
idea that by accepting a lease they relinquish an older and more 
permanent right. 



THE HIGHLAND WIDOW. 



In a sheltering nook, from the tempest and rain, 
Stood the widow's lone cot, like a grotto so clean ; 

There her cow and her croft were the last to remain 
Of all the rude grandeur her fathers had seen ; 

And the cliff of the mountain towered high overhead, 

Where fortune her life's humble portion had laid. 

She sprung from a line who were chieftains of old, 
And ranked with the fierce and the valiant of yore, 

Faced the barbarous Cumyns, the bloody and bold, 
And wielded like giants the cleaving claymore ; 

"Gainst the power of oppression their banner was borne, 

In the ranks of the Bruce crushed the champion of Lome. 

No grasping, luxurious, degenerate race, 

The rights of their clansmen like brothers would shield ; 
They merrily joined them in sports of the chase, 

And valued them not as the beasts of the field ; 
Nor their country a people-less desert was then, 
When our kings cried for aid from the bravest of men. 

She had seen a wide region of hamlets in flames, 
And her kinsmen sent out mid the mountains to die. 

Still, the tyrants, remorseless as fiends to their pains, 
Though the heavens should rend and the desolate cry, 

Stood callous, unmoved at the shrieks of despair, 

With adamant hearts, for no pity was there. 



1 66 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

With the armies of India and legions of Spain, 

They, sturdy of limb, ever stood to the foe ; 
They were still with the conquerors again and again, 

Where a Briton would dare, there a clansman would go ; 
In the tumult of danger they ever have been, 
Gaining laurels of war for our Empire and Queen. 

For such they had reaped the abundant reward 

Of the howl of the tiger, while hunted to shame ; 
For such did their forefathers die by the sword, 
Exalting their lordlings to honour and fame ; 
The savage, she thought, gave a home to their kind- 
Seemed the warmer of heart, though the dormant of mind. 

For the exiled her prayers still fervently rose, 

Like the incense of balm from her garden of flowers ; 

Her riches was love in a soul of repose, 

Not the wealth that embitters the while it empowers ; 

And she thought of the brave who had gone in their prime, 

Like the beauty that's lost in the vista of time. 

Their letters, like heirlooms, she read and re-read, 
As her memory lingered o'er happiness gone, 

Then her tears o'er the doom of her country were shed, 
Where she drooped like a briar in a desert alone ; 

Where clansmen once lived in contentment and cheer, 

Were the wandering flocks and the homes of the deer. 

The great ones on earth are not always the blest : 
The blest are the nearest the Heavenly Throne ; 

For that land by her son was her head laid to rest, 
In the land she had cherished and loved as her own ; 

And that son, who for long did her absence bewail, 

For a home far away left the land of the Gael. 

And the avalanche fell from the mountain of snow, 
And the once cosie cottage in ruins was laid, 

And the owl nightly cries with his sad plaint of woe, 
And the croaking dark ravens their pinions have spread 

Where the notes of the pibroch was borne on the gale, 

And the song of the maiden gave joy to the vale. 

O land of my sires, like a land of the dead, 
Thou art silent and dreary, a wilderness sad, 

With the grandeur around thee that nature has spread, 
Where once were the tribes in frugality glad. 

To the festival joys, and the dance on the green, 

Return, oh return, and enliven the scene ! 
Greenock. KENNETH MACLACHLAN. 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 
BY ALEXANDER MACBAIN, M.A., F.S.A. SCOT. 

X. GODS OF THE GAELS. 

WHATEVER interpretation we give to the Feru-bolg and the 
Fomorians, there can be little question as to the fact that the 
Tuatha-De-Danann are the Gaelic gods. The Irish historians, 
as we saw, represent them as kings with subjects, but even they 
find it difficult to hide the fact that some of these kings and 
queens afterwards appear on the scene of history in a super- 
natural fashion. The myths and tales, however, make no scruple 
to tell us that the Tuatha-De-Danann still live in Fairyland, and 
often take part in human affairs. In a very ancient tract which 
records a dialogue between St Patrick and Caoilte Mac Ronain, 
they are spoken of as "sprites or fairies, with corporeal and 
material forms, but indued with immortality." Their skill in 
magic, shown in their manipulation of storms, clouds, and dark- 
ness, is insisted on in all the myths, and is a source of trouble to 
the historians and annalists, who regard them as mere mortals. 
" They were called gods," says Keating, " from the wonderfulness 
of their deeds of sorcery." To them is first applied the term 
Side, which in modern Gaelic means " fairy," but which in the 
case of the Tuatha-De-Danann has a much wider signification, 
for it implies a sort of god-like existence in the " Land of 
Promise." The Book of Armagh calls the Side " deos terrenos," 
earthly gods, whom, we are told in Fiacc's hymn, when Patrick 
came, the peoples adored " tuatha adortais Side." Sid was a 
term applied to the green knolls where some of these deified 
mortals were supposed to dwell : the word appears in the modern 
Gaelic sith and sithean, a mound or rather a fairy mound. The 
Tuatha-De-Danann were also called " Aes Side," aes being here 
used in the sense of " race" and not of " age." We may remark 
that the Norse gods were also known as the Aes or Aesir, one of 
the many remarkable coincidences in words and in actions 
between the Irish gods and the deities of Asgard. 

In attempting to reconstruct the Gaelic god-world from the al- 
most hopeless ruins in which piety and time have laid it, we must 



i68 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

not merely remember the Aryan character of it, but also Caesar's 
brief account of the Gaulish Olympus. There can be little doubt 
but that the Gaelic and Gaulish Olympi were similar in outline, 
and probably also in details. We shall, therefore, expect Mercury 
to be the most important of the Gaelic deities, whi.le Apollo, 
Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva take rank after him. These deities 
and others, as was pointed out, represent the personified powers of 
nature the wind, the sun, the storm, the sky, and the moon. Not 
only are these elements personified-as deities and so worshipped, but 
we also find the elements in their impersonified state, as it were, in- 
voked for aid and for good faith. The classical examples of this 
are extremely numerous. One instance will suffice : In Virgil, 
^Eneas and Latinus are represented as swearing by the sun, the 
earth, the sea, the stars, by the Almighty Father and his Spouse, 
by Mars and Janus, by the spring and rivers, the ether and the 
deities of the sea. The first instance of such an oath in Irish 
history is when Breas, the Fomorian, swore by " the sun and the 
moon, by the sea and the land, and by -all the elements, to fulfil 
the engagement" which Luga imposed on him. Vows to the 
heavens and the earth, to day and night, to the rain, the dew and 
the wind, are exceedingly common, appearing even in historic 
times both in Ireland and Scotland ; among the Picts and Scots 
in the 4th century, in Ireland in the 5th, as when Loegaire was 
made to swear by the elements that he would never again de- 
mand the cow-tribute, and with M'Conglinne in the 8th century. 
It is said that Loegaire forgot his oath, and thus met with an 
evil end, for " it was the sun and the wind that wrought his death, 
because he had violated their sanctity ; " so say the Four Mas- 
ters, good Christians though they were ! The divine elements 
are known in Gaelic as duli, and one of the oldest and most 
favourite epithets of the Deity is " rig na n-dul," the King of the 
Elements, to which may be compared " Dia nan dul " of the 
Gaelic Psalms : the word for Creator in old Gaelic is Dulem, the 
genitive of which is Duleman. 

Our description of the Gaelic gods will naturally begin with 
the Jupiter of the Gaels. This honour belongs most probably to 
the Dagda, " inDagda mor," "the great good one" (?) as Mr Fitz- 
gerald explains his name. Some interpret the name as the 
" good fire." In any case, dag signifies " good," appearing in 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 169 

modern Gaelic as deagh, but what da means is yet undecided. 
Though the Dagda is very often mentioned, yet little information 
is given about him. He was one of the leaders of the Tuatha- 
De-Danann from Scythia to Ireland, and he brought with him from 
" Murias " a magical cauldron capable of satisfying the hunger of 
everyone. He is the most renewed of all the Tuatha for his skill 
in Druidism. With Luga he makes and carries out all the 
arrangements of the second battle of Moytura, in which, how- 
ever, he was wounded with a poisoned weapon by the amazon 
queen Cethlenn. The venom of that wound caused his death 
1 20 years later. For eighty years previous to his death, he ruled 
the Tuatha as king. There is little in these meagre details to 
help us to a true notion of the character of the Dagda. It is in 
the epithets attached to his name, and the incidental references 
to him, scattered through many tales, that we can hope to under- 
stand his position among the gods. He is called Eochaidh 
Ollathair, that is, Chevalier All-father, and, further, Ruadrofhessa, 
" the red one of all knowledge." The epithet " Ollathair " All- 
father puts him on a level with Jupiter, Zeus, and Odin ; he is 
the father of gods and men, king of heaven and earth. Zeus, we 
know, is the sky-god, the beneficent power of light and life, who re- 
gulates the atmosphere and its phenomena notably, the thunder 
for the good of men : Odin is, however, a wind-god more than a 
sky-god, answering rather to the Roman Mercury and the Greek 
Hermes than to Jove and Zeus. Is the Dagda a wind- god or a 
light-god or a fire-god ? Mr Fitzgerald classes him with 
Odin as a sky- and wind-god, and appeals to the epithet 
" Eochaid " horseman -as confirmation ; for horseman and 
huntsman are nearly allied, and seem rather to belong to 
the wind deity, as in the case of Odin they do so apply. 
Mr Elton makes the Dagda a spirit of heat who ruled all fires 
in earth and heaven, for he interprets the name after O'Donovan 
as signifying "the great good fire." The view which we will 
adopt on the matter differs from both the foregoing. The 
Dagda represents rather the sky-god, exactly the Roman Jove. 
He is the All-father ; he is the Red-one the sky in certain states 
being so, just as at other times he is said to be "greyer than 
the grey mist" who is all-wise ; he is the Dag-da, the good- 
father or good-one, the deus optimus maximus, the benign provi- 



i;o THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

dence, who arranges, provides, and superintends everything. His 
cauldron is interpreted by some as the canopy of heaven ; like 
the thunder-god, Thor, he possessed a hand-stone which returned 
of itself to the place from which it was thrown, just as Thor's 
hammer the thunder-bolt did. 

The most important deity in the Gaelic pantheon must have 
been Mercury : which of the Tuatha-De-Danann was he ? The 
honour of being the god most worshipped by the Gael must fall 
to Manannan, the son of Lir, whose attributes we have already 
discussed. Manannan is always a deity ; he is never a mortal 
hero like the others. We represented him as god of sea and wind, 
as opposed to Mr Elton's view, who made him a sun-god. There 
is little doubt but Manannan is a wind-god : he possesses all the 
prominent requisites of such a deity. He is the owner of the 
wonderful steed, Enbarr, of the flowing mane, who is swift as the 
cold clear wind of spring ; his also is the sword, Frecart, the 
answerer, from whose wound there was no recovery ; and he 
possessed the curious mantle that will cause people never to meet 
again. The three characteristic possessions of Odin are his sword, 
his mantle, and his horse Sleipnir. The sword is the lightning; 
the mantle is the air and clouds, and the grey horse Sleipnir is 
the rushing grey cloud driven by the wind. Odin is, as already 
said, mostly a wind-god ; so, too, is Manannan. Both deities, 
however, usurped features belonging to more departmental 
gods, in proportion as they took the first place in the worship 
of the people. Manannan also possessed the wonderful canoe 
which could hold any number of people, suiting its size to 
them, and which obeyed the will of those it bore, and swept 
over the ocean as fast as the March wind. He, too, instituted 
the " Feast of Age," known as the feast of Gobnenn the smith. 
Whoever was present at it, and partook of the food and drink, 
was free ever after from sickness, decay, and old age. The Land 
of Promise is often identified with Inis-Mhanann, or Isle of Man, 
which was ruled over by Manannan, but his connection with the 
land of promise is rather more like that of Mercury with the land 
of shades ; he would appear to have been the psychopomp the 
conductor of the shades of men to the happy Isles of the West. 
He was, as we saw, god of merchandise and also god of arts for 
he is represented as teaching Diarmat in all the arts when he 
was with him in Fairyland. Why the Celts and Teutons made 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 171 

the wind deity their chief god is fairly clear. The atmospheric 
conditions of Western and Northern Europe make the wind and 
storm powers of comparatively more importance than they are 
in sunnier lands, where the gods of light on the other hand are 
supreme. Manannan is further very properly denominated the 
" son of Lir," the son of the sea, for sure enough where else does 
the wind come from in these .islands of ours but from the sea ? 

There is little trouble in settling the identity of the Gaelic 
Apollo. This is Luga Lamfada, surnamed the Ildana ; Luga of 
the Long Arms, the many-arted one. He appears with a stately 
band of warriors on white steeds, " a young champion, tall and 
comely, with a countenance as bright and glorious as the setting 
sun." But more definite still is the reference to his sunlike coun- 
tenance ; in another place the Fomorian champion, Breas, is 
made to say in reference to the approach of Luga from the west : 
" A wonderful thing has come to pass to-day ; for the sun, it 
seems to me, has risen in the west." " It would be better that it 
were so," said the Druids. " The light you see is the brightness 
of the face and the flashing of the weapons of Luga of the Long 
Arms, our deadly enemy." He also possessed the swiftness and 
keenness of the ocean-wind-god Manannan, for we are told that 
he rode Manannan's mare Enbarr of the flowing mane, that is, 
the driving wind ; his coat of mail the clouds ; and he is further 
represented as having Manannan's sword, the lightning flash. 
But this last is doubtful, for two of the precious jewels that the 
Tuatha-De-Danann took from the east are Luga's sword and his 
spear " Gae Buaifneach," tempered in the poisoned blood of 
adders. These weapons are merely the flashing rays of the sun, 
just as Luga's helmet, Cannbarr, glittered with dazzling bright- 
ness, with two precious stones set in it,, one in front and one 
behind. Whenever he took off the helmet, we are told that his 
" face shone like the sun on a dry summer day." His deeds are 
also " sunlike" in their character. He first frees the Tuatha from 
the hated tribute which was imposed on them after a temporary 
success on the part of the Fomorians. We are told that he put a 
Druidical spell on the plundered cattle, and sent all the milch 
cows home to their owners, leaving the dry cows to cumber his 
enemies. The cows of the sun-god .are famous in all mytho- 
logies ; they are the clouds of heaven that bring rain and 
moisture to men, when shone upon by the rays of the sun. 



i;2 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Luga's greatest feat is the overthrow of the Fomorians at 
Moytura. For years he had been preparing for this great fight. 
He summoned all the artists and artificers of renown and got 
arms in readiness. He himself lent his help to each tradesman, 
for he was a skilled carpenter, mason, smith, harper, druid, 
physician, cup-bearer, and goldsmith, " one who embodied in 
himself all these arts and professions," as he described himself on 
one occasion. When the sons of Turenn slew his father, he 
made them procure for him as " eric" or fine, several weapons of 
importance and several salves, with a view to using them in the 
great struggle against the stormy ocean powers. Such were the 
apples of Hisberna, which could cure any sickness and would 
return to the owner even when thrown away ; the pig's skin whose 
touch made whole ; the spear "the slaughterer" whose fiery 
blazing head was always kept in water ; the steeds and chariot of 
Dobar the steeds which travel with equal ease on land and sea; 
the pigs of Asal " whosoever eats a part of them shall not suffer 
from ill health" even when killed to-day they are alive to- 
morrow ; and the hound-whelp Failinis, that shines like the sun 
on summer day before him every wild beast falls to earth 
powerless. In the battle of Moytura, he killed Balor of the Evil 
Eye. That worthy had already turned Nuada of the Silver 
Hand into stone, and many more De-Danann, and just as he was 
opening it on Luga, the latter flung a " sling stone" at it, which 
passed through it and Balor's brain. Now Balor was his grand- 
father, and it had been foretold that he should be slain by his 
grandson. In view of this he kept his only child, a daughter, 
Aethlenn, secluded in a tower, where man and the idea of 
" man" were to be strictly excluded. But in vain. She became 
the wife of Cian, the son of Diancecht, the physician, and Luga 
was the offspring. We must note his connection with the god of 
healing ; that god is his grandfather. In Greek mythology, 
Aesculapius is the son of Apollo. The name Luga, too, is sug- 
gestive ; it is doubtless from the root luc t to shine, and it is 
interesting to observe that the Norse fire-god, also master of 
many arts, though evil arts, is called Loki. The epithet Lamfada, 
long arms, reminds us of the far-darter Apollo, and refers to the 
long-shooting rays of the sun a most appropriate epithet. 

(To be continued.) 



173 



SUTHERLAND EVICTIONS AND BURNINGS. 

TESTIMONY OF LIVING EYE-WITNESSES (Continued). 



HUGH MACKENZIE, Strathy, go years of age 

I am nearly 90 years of age. I remember the clearances on Strathnaver from 
beginning to end. The work was done piece-meal. My father's croft was in Dal- 
malart, near Achness, and the first part of Strathnaver from which the people were 
ejected lies on the east side of Lochnaver, viz. : The townships of Clebrig, Rhihal- 
vaig, Achool, Achness, Coirre-na-fearn, Coirre-chuiran. Alt-nan-ha, and Halmadary. 
The reason why so many places were made desolate, was to make room for a south- 
country farmer of the name of Marshall. 

We were allowed the produce of hill and loch, and I remember it was Sellar 
personally who cut to pieces the creels with which we caught the salmon on the water- 
fall of Achness. My father, who was on the lower side of the water of the Malert, 
was not removed at that time. At a subsequent period, the west side of Lochnaver 
was cleared, including the townships of Grumb-mhor, containing about 16 crofters ; 
and Grumbeg, 5 crofters, and Sellar obtained the land. My father wished to be re- 
moved as far as possible from the large farmers, and he obtained a croft near the sea- 
side. Another succeeded him, and took possession of his old croft at Dalmalart, but 
he was not allowed long to remain there, as Sellar was by no means satisfied. All the 
people from Malart to Rhifail about 10 miles were shortly after removed, and their 
houses fired. This was the second period when clearances on a large scale took place. 
Sellar also received the land, and put it under sheep. The remaining portion of 
Strathnaver, from Rhifail to the foot of the Strath, was not removed so long as Mr 
Dingwall was minister of Farr, who acted as a check upon the wholesale clearances. 
When the Rev. David Mackenzie succeeded him, he was not opposed to the work; so 
the people did not dare to resent. By this means the people in the lower part were 
ejected, and Sellar was again the new occupant. I may mention that the Rev. Mr 
Mackenzie was allowed 50 sheep on Sellar's farm at Skelpick ; that, irrespective of 
his glebe, he got a park of 5 miles in circumference, cut off from the poor crofters' hill- 
ground, and a man having a salary of 10 to keep the dykes in repair. 

When Sellar was setting fire to the house of William Chisholm, spoon-maker, 
Badinlosgin, he was told that Chisholm's mother-in-law was inside and bed-ridden. 
He told his men, however, to proceed with the work, saying with an oath " Let the 
old wilch burn." There was no house in the place but his own, and owing to his 
trade, Chisholm could not afford to remain long at home. Eric, his wife (the old 
woman's daughter), happened to be from home at the time the house was fired ; but 
she shortly after, and with the help of some people who had come upon the scene, 
rescued the old woman from the flames. I knew the man Chisholm well. 

HUGH MACKENZIE. 
ADAM GUNN. 



Witnesses i RODERICK MACKENZIE. 

ANN MORRISON, 79 years of age, Dalacharn, Farr. 

I was born at Direadh Meidigh, where I lived till I was seven or eight years of 
age, and then was evicted to Dalacharn, where I now live. I saw the following 
townships burnt by Sellar's party : 



174 



THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



Dalnadroit, with 10 houses. | Skelpick, with 12 houses. 

Dunviden, with 6 houses. 

Thus I can testify to seeing 28 houses burning on the same day. A strong breeze of 
wind sprang up the night before these townships were set on fire, and next morning 
"when the burning commenced smoke and sparks were carried down the Strath for a 
long distance. 

The houses in Achina and Dalacharn, which were a good distance away from the 
scene of the fire, were in imminent danger of taking fire too ; the sparks were so 
thick. All the steadings and dwelling places in the above mentioned townships were 
reduced to ashes, and in many places the heather caught fire, which added to the 
awfulness of the scene. 

The houses, too, were thatched with dry, loose straw, and this rendered them 
the more liable to catch fire. 

Some of the poor people who came down from Strathnaver lost the most of their 
furniture and bed-clothes in their burnt houses, and were in a miserable condition 
during the ensuing winter. They had to spend the winter in hastily-erected bothies, 
without much clothing, while the rain and snow came in through the openings in the 
turf walls. As they had no hill pasture or provision for the winter, the most of the 
cattle which they had brought with them died of starvation. 

I declare this statement of mine is true. ANN MORRISON. 

Witnesses, j DONALD MACKAY. 

2oth Aug. 1883 1 MURDO MACKAY. 

ABSTRACT OF THE FOREGOING TESTIMONY. 



The places seen on fire 
By George Macdonald, Airdneskich, were 

Badinlosgin, with I house i 

By George Mackay, Airdneskich 
Ceanncoille, with 7 houses 
Kidsary, with 2 houses 

Syre, with 13 houses 

Langall, with 8 houses 

By Rory Macleod, Skerray 
Grumb-mhor, with 16 houses 
Achmhillidh, with 4 houses 

20 

By Grace Macdonald, Armadale 

Langall, with 8 houses 

Na Totachan, with 2 houses 

Ealan k Challaidh, with 2 houses 
Sgall, with 6 houses 

Coille an Kian, with 2 houses 

20 

By Wm. Mackay (Ban), Achina 

Achcaoilnaborgin, with 6 houses 
Achinlochy, with 6 houses 



Brought forward 83 

By Bell Cooper, Crask 

All the houses in the district 
between Rossal and Achcaoilnaborgin, 

about 55 55 

By Angus Mackay, Leaduaginllan 

Ceanncaoil, with 7 houses 

Rossal, with 20 houses 

Badinleathaid 



By Ann Morrison, Dalcharn 
Dalnadroit, with 10 houses 
Skelpick, with 12 houses 
Dunviden, with 6 houses 

By Widow B. Mackay, Kirtomy 
Skall, with 6 houses ' 

By Wm. Morrison, Achina 
Rossal, with about 20 houses 
Dalmalart, with 2 houses 
Dalvina, with 2 houses 

Achphris, with 2 houses 



27 



28 



26 



Carry forward 83 Total.. 225 

[Taking the average number in each family at five persons, which is far below the 
average in the Highlands, we have here one thousand one hundred and twenty-five souls 
burnt out of their homes in Strathnaver alone, in addition to those who lived in the 
houses referred to by Hugh Mackenzie in a district extending from Malart to Rhifail, 
a distance of ten miles, thickly populated !] 



175 



THE HIGHLAND LAND LAW REFORM ASSOCIATION 
OF LONDON. 



THE following documents have recently been issued by this influential and energetic 
Association. The Address to the Crofters is issued also in excellent Gaelic : 

I. TO THE PUBLIC. 

Although it is only recently that acute distress and the disturbances in Skye 
attracted public attention to the depressed condition of the Highlands, the system, 
which in so many instances either expatriated or drove the people from fertile straths 
and glens to barren holdings on the sea-shore, began upwards of a century ago. 

The story of Highland Clearances, detailing the process by which sheep, grouse, 
and deer have been substituted for the gallant race to whose forefathers the chiefs 
owed their chieftainship, and Britain the successful issue of many a hard-fought 
battle, is a harrowing record of cruelty and oppression. The remains of ruined houses, 
the dismal desolation of many a once-fertile strath, and the depressed condition of the 
few who are now permitted to live on, but do not derive their subsistence from the 
soil, testify too eloquently of a system which has uncompromisingly sacrificed the 
rights and welfare of the people for the purpose of sport. 

The net result of the game-preserving mania is, that vast tracts of country, fit for 
cultivation, or suitable for grazing sheep and cattle, are reserved in unproductive idle- 
ness as the rearing-ground of game ; while the crofters, liable to capricious eviction, 
with no incentive to industry, year by year having their holdings curtailed, and 
subject to the arbitrary rule of landlords' representatives, are living from hand to 
mouth on insufficient patches of the worst soil. 

Long and patiently Highlanders have endured a policy which has either crushed 
out or pauperised the rural population; but the recent destitution and the growing 
discontent are ominous indications that an equitable reform of the Highland Land 
Laws cannot with safety be much longer delayed. This Association in contending 
for reform, as laid down in Article 2 of its Constitution, will proceed strictly on con- 
stitutional lines, and disclaiming any political bias, will endeavour to carry on its work 
irrespective of party politics. Whatever wrong-doing and injustice may be attributed 
to individuals, it is the system which permits wrong-doing and injustice that shall be 
attacked; and although it may sometimes be necessary to cite as illustrations the doings 
of individuals, anything tending to excite class prejudices shall be carefully avoided. 
On the support accorded the Association will depend the vigour and extent of its 
operations, and the Committee earnestly appeals for sympathy and support not only 
to Scotsmen, but to those who are interested in the welfare of a loyal people, and to 
all who are concerned in preserving the Highlands as a national health resort. 

II. TO THE HIGHLAND CROFTERS. 

The appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into your grievances is a 
tardy, though hopeful, acknowledgment on the part of the Government that the con- 
dition of the Highlands is not satisfactory. But, however fully you may justify your 
complaints and prove your case, the history of all great reforms should teach you that 
the changes necessary to promote your welfare will not be conceded without earnest 
effort and a well directed agitation on your patt. 



176 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

We would suggest for your consideration the following remedial reforms as the 
object to which your agitation should be directed, viz. : 

Such changes in the Land Laws as will secure 

(1) A Durable Tenure, under which the power of landlords to evict the people 

capriciously shall be abolished. 

(2) Fair Rents, fixed, wnerever necessary, by a Land Court. 

(3) Due Compensation to Tenants for their improvements. 

(4) Such a re-appointment of the land as shall admit of its being used for the 

production of food for man, instead of allowing it, as at present, in so 
many instances, to lie waste for sporting purposes. 

(5) A well-considered scheme, by which tenants shall, under equitable con- 

ditions, be assisted to become owners of their holdings and all waste lands 
capable of improvement shall be reclaimed and rendered productive. 

Your protests and complaints have hitherto been unheeded by Parliament, be- 
cause a privileged body of landlords hereditary and irresponsible has been supreme 
in the Legislature, and in the Courts of Justice, in making and interpreting the law; 
but, above all, because you yourselves have hitherto had no voice in choosing your 
legislators. But ere long you will be enfranchised, and you should lose no time in 
preparing for the next general election, so that you may be able to return such men to 
Parliament as will interest themselves on your behalf. 

The treatment to which you have been subjected in the past has been arbitrary 
and oppressive, because you have not been united; but now you must organise, be 
earnest of purpose, and prepared to work, and, if necessary, make sacrifices on behalf 
of the cause of Land Law Reform. 

We would, therefore, suggest that your first duty now is to form, as soon as pos- 
sible, Associations, through which you could speak and act and make your grievances 
known. 

In forming a District Association, you might first convene a public meeting to 
discuss your affairs, resolve that an Association be formed, and appoint a provisional 
secretary and small committee. Then, the townships included in the district might 
each, under the direction of the committee, choose representatives, and these repre- 
sentatives, at a convenient time and place, might meet to frame a constitution and 
elect office-bearers. 

An organization embracing the whole of the Highlands should be aimed at, in 
which each one has assigned him his place and work ; so that an injustice done to one 
may be deemed an injustice to all, and the many united may be prepared, at what- 
ever sacrifice, to support the righteous cause of individuals or communities whose 
rights are assailed. 

Your cause has many influential well-wishers. This Association, for instance, 
includes among its adherents a goodly number of Members of Parliament, private 
gentlemen, clergymen, doctors of medicine, barristers, professors, and others, who 
will earnestly support your efforts ; but on your own unity and determination success 
will chiefly depend; for, in the words of the old proverb, " God helps them that help 
themselves." 

Any assistance or advice that this Association can give shall be readily rendered, 
and it is earnestly hoped that you will give the foregoing suggestions your serious con- 
sideration, and take such action as may be necessary without delay. 

In an address, addressed specially 



HIGHLANDERS OF NEW ZEALAND. 177 

III. TO SCHOOLMASTERS, 

The Secretary says : The reform of the Land Laws is a SOCIAL QUESTION, and 
it is not only desirable, but essential to the success of the movement, that differences of 
opinion as to Political and Church matters should not be permitted to create disunion 
in the ranks of the Land Law Reformers. 

The Highland Land Law Reform Associations already formed, may at least lay 
claim to having aims and objects at once definite and intelligible ; and the number 
and influence of the gentlemen who have sc disinterestedly espoused the cause of 
the Crofters, should be an encouragement and incentive to those who are more im- 
mediately concerned in effecting Land Law Reform, to organise similar associations 
in every Highland parish. 

The battle of Land Law Reform can only be won by earnestness of purpose and 
unity of action on the part of the Crofters and their friends ; and this Association ven- 
tures to hope that your influence will be exerted in promoting the social emancipation 
of the people amongst whom your lot is cast, and their education in the duties of 
citizenship, on the same lines and unller the same name as this Association. 

PALACE CHAMBERS, 9 BRIDGE STREET, 
WESTMINSTER, LONDON, S.W. 



HIGHLANDERS OF NEW ZEALAND AND THEIR 
DISTRESSED COUNTRYMEN AT HOME. 

IN addition to the sums already acknowledged, the Editor of 
the Celtic Magazine has received another draft from the High- 
landers of Invercargill, New Zealand, for 33. is., to be dis- 
tributed at his discretion among destitute people in the North 
West Highlands and Islands. This makes a total sum remitted 
to him by our patriotic countrymen, in that district, of 181. ios.; 
for which, in the name of the Highlanders at home, we heartily 
thank them. Our good friends will be glad to learn that now no un- 
usual destitution exists. It is, therefore, thought best to apply most 
of the money on hand to the supply of corn and potato seed in 
the Spring. Sufficient provision has been already made for the 
Strome Ferry fishermen. The following is the letter accompany- 
ing the remittance, with a list of the subscribers : 

o 

INVERCARGILL, NEW ZEALAND, 8th Nov. 1883. 
ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, Esq., Dean of Guild, Inverness. 

DEAR SIR, We have now the pleasure to enclose draft en London for the sum of 
,33. is., being the third instalment towards the fund for the relief of our distressed 
countrymen in the North. Enclosed please find list of the contributors, and we shall 
thank you to give it publicity as you have done in the case of our former remittances. 
We note with pleasure (by your letter of a8th August that appeared in the Invernest 
Courier] the alacrity displayed by you in the distribution of the funds in hand ; and 



i;8 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

although the value dispensed to each claimant may not be intrinsically much, still, the 
knowledge that their comparatively prosperous countrymen in this distant part of the 
world have not forgotten them, may make the gift doubly valuable to them. As yet 
we have not heard as to the results of the Royal Commission, and presume that their 
labours are not yet finished. Much sympathy is expressed here by a number of the 
contributors to this fund, on behalf of the Strome Ferry fishermen, who were wrong- 
fully imprisoned for conscience sake ; and we leave it to your discretion as to whether 
a portion of these funds should be applied in their case. Yours faithfully, 

D. L. MATHESON. 

RODERICK MACLEOD. 

LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 

Duncan Matheson, Waikaia ... ... ... ... ... 2 2 o 

D. N. Fitzgerald, do 220 

Henry Wilson, do. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 220 

Angus Macdonald, Nokomai ... ... ... ... 200 

Hugh Mackenzie, Ronald Macdonald, and Finlay Murchison, Waikaia ; 
Alex. Mackay, Tapanui ; and J. T. Martin, Invercargil, one guinea 

each 55 

James Grant, Miss Gunn, and Kenneth Maccrimon, Waikaia ; James 
Macdonald and K. Mackinnon, Tapanui ; A. Cameron, Nokomai ; 
Donald Kellie, Gore ; and John Macgibbon, Mataura, i each ... 800 
Joseph Davidson, Waikaia ; Rev. A. H. Stobo, Invercargill ; J. G. 
Bremner, N. Simmonds, N. Colquhoun, W. T. Macfarlane, James 
Main, William Fraser, R. Elliott, James Duncan, Neil Gillies, Thos. 
Logan, and Hugh Mackay, Tapanui; Angus Cameron, Miss Wallace, 
and Job Coulam, Nokomai ; Hugh Stewart, Gore ; and Dugald 

Livingstone, Lochiel, IDS. each ... ... 900 

R. Crawford, D. Maccoll, D. Mackenzie, and T. Buchanan, Tapanui ; 
J. Dean, W. Fyfe, New Zealander, Miss Hamer, J. G. Brown, and 
Patrick Maher, Waikaia, 53. each ... ... ... 2 10 o 



33 



CELTIC AND LITERARY NOTES. 



AN interesting feature has recently been introduced into the Pictou News t Nova 
Scotia, its conductors having added a Gaelic department to its columns. The super- 
intendence of this portion has been intrusted to the accomplished hands of the Rev. 
A. MacLean Sinclair, Springville, N.S., well-known to the readers of the Celtic 
Magazine, Colonial and other Highlanders should extend to the Pictou News 
the encouragement which so patriotic and interesting a step as this deserves at their 

hands. 

Another adminicle in the evidence of a decided Gaelic revival comes to us in the 
form of an announcement that the energetic and large-hearted Celt who holds the 
office of Minister of St Giles' in Edinburgh, is about to make the experiment of having 
Gaelic services, conducted by Highland clergymen of all denominations, as part of 
the non-canonical ordinances of the Cathedral. We have no doubt that this new de- 
parture by Dr Cameron Lees will be beneficial in many ways, and one of these may 



LAYS O' HAME AND COUNTRY. 179 

be the promotion, in a greater degree, of intercommunion between the Gaelic member- 
ship of the various denominations. 

There is no department of Gaelic worship where improvement could be 
introduced with greater advantage than in that of music. Without even approaching 
the subject of organs in public worship, there can be no question that there is room 
for vast improvement in our Gaelic praise. Our beautiful musical language is often 
twisted and tortured to suit ill-adapted and ill-sung Lowland and foreign tunes. We 
would direct the attention of Dr Cameron Lees and his Highland musical friends to 
the question, in the hope that some improvement may in this respect result from his 
new departure. It is scarcely a matter for congratulation that our native country can- 
not at present be charged with being a region 

" Where men display, to congregations wide, 
Devotion's every grace except the heart." 

Another intimation of the extension of the area of Gaelic activity comes from 
Chicago. A Gaelic congregation is about to be established in the " Empire City" 
under the pastorate of the Rev. Dr Campbell, of Collingwood, Ontario. We trust 
that under such able and experienced superintendence, the Gaelic congregation of 
Chicago will be a large and prosperous one. 

The Scottish Review for December last contains a very interesting and import- 
ant article on "The Irish Language," with incidental references to Scottish Gaelic. 
Students of Celtic philology will find in it a careful and intelligent survey of the 
field, and a description of the available adjuncts and implements for its cultivation. 

What promises to be a sumptuous book, has been announced by Messrs Black- 
wood. We refer to "The Old Scottish Regimental Colours," by Andrew Ross, 
S.S.C., Honorary Secretary to the Old Scottish Regimental Colours Committee. 
Mr Ross deems the present time a fitting one to place on record the "spirit-stirring 
deeds " of the Scottish Regiments, public interest having recently been pointedly 
directed to the subject in connection with the imposing ceremonial enacted in St 
Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, on the occasion of depositing in that ancient shrine the 
emblems of Scotland's military renown. The work is to be illustrated with a series 
of full-page representations of the old colours, and, judging from advanced plates 
with which we have been favoured, this part of the work will be a perfect luxury o 
chromo-lithographic art, apart altogether from the historical narrative, and the in- 
trinsic interest attaching to the venerable and battle-stained subjects which these 
illustrations represent. 



LAYS O 1 HAME AND COUNTRY. By ALEXANDER LOGAN. 
Edinburgh : Oliphant, Anderson, & Ferrier. 1883. 

A NEW volume of Scottish poetry by the author of "Poems and Lyrics," needs no 
commendation from us. The present volume completely bears out the author's pre- 
vious character as a tender and sympathetic exponent of the voices of the "soul in 
nature." It were difficult to select specimens surpassing the others, where most, if 
not all, are so full of delicate and pleasing beauty. We prefer to put our commend- 
ation in the form of advice by telling all " brither Scots," to get the book and enjoy 
it as we have done. The volume is tastefully got up and admirably printed. 



i8o THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

A RUN THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 
BY KENNETH MACDONALD, F.S.A., Scot. 

XI. MINNEAPOLIS. 

MINNEAPOLIS was. in high festival. The annual fair was in pro- 
gress, and the Hotel was crowded. In the large entrance hall an 
auctioneer disposing of the stakes for next day's events had an 
audience of over a hundred well-dressed people. The scene was 
a lively one, but somewhat unintelligible to me, and after finish- 
ing my home letter I sauntered out. The main thoroughfares 
were brilliantly lighted by electricity, while tram-cars ran up and 
down the centre of the streets almost continuously. But yet the 
city is only in process of making. Lines of handsome buildings 
have been run up facing each other with intervals of from sixty 
to a hundred feet of open space between. On each side of this 
space wooden footways have been hastily thrown up, and in the 
middle, on what, for aught that appears, may be the original sur- 
face of the prairie, two double lines of iron have been laid down 
for tramway traffic. The scene all round was a busy one. Ruts 
and dents a foot deep did not seem to offer any impediment to 
the numerous carriages, buggies, and " sulkies" which trundled 
along over the soft dusty streets, at a pace which would be fairly 
described as rattling had there been anything to rattle. But 
there was no rattle, and at a corner just off the principal thorough- 
fare, a peripatetic professor of figures, in black gown and trencher, 
was able from the top of a barrow to discourse on a new system of 
arithmetic to an audience of some hundreds, and to sell them his 
book (price half-a-dollar I have a copy) without any interrup- 
tion from the noise of the traffic. It would be a mistake, however, 
to judge Minneapolis hastily from the state of her streets. Her 
people believe she is to be a great city, and the fact that between 
1860 and 1870 the population increased from less than 6000 to 
18,000, and between 1870 and 1880 from 18,000 to nearly 47,000, 
while in 1882 the estimated population amounted to over 76,000, 
affords fair ground for their belief. To make the city worthy of 
her destiny is the object of the people, and many things which in 
the early days were made hurriedly and unsubstantially, they 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 181 

have resolved shall be re-made. This re-making process was in 
operation while I was there, and is probably in operation yet, but 
a few years will see the principal streets of Minneapolis as hand- 
somely finished as those of any city of similar size in the Union. 

Early in the morning, my friend Mr Miller called for me, and 
together we proceeded to Minneapolis' twin sister, the city of Saint 
Paul, twelve miles distant by rail. Our stay in Saint Paul was 
necessarily short, and as the city was visited for purely business 
purposes, I saw little of it. What I saw, however, afforded evi- 
dence of the same spirit of progress, the same faith in the future, 
which is visible in almost every city in North America. The 
natural levels of the site of Saint Paul do not please its people, 
and millions of dollars are being spent in pulling down large and 
handsome buildings, and re-erecting them on a different level, and 
in driving piles into low-lying sections of land preparatory to 
raising their level to suit the general plan of the city. 

On our return to Minneapolis, my friend hired the only 
available conveyance an open carriage, with a team of mules 
to drive us round the city. A most pleasant drive it was, not- 
withstanding the occasional chaff which our long-eared team 
evoked. After visiting the outside of a fair number of the sixty 
odd churches which Minneapolis contains, and seeing something 
of the other public buildings, we drove to the river side the 
Milling quarter. It is here the heart of Minneapolis beats. 
Without its water-power the city would never have existed ; on 
its continuance the future of the city mainly depends. It may 
seem curious to speak of the continuance of a water-power fur- 
nished by one of the largest rivers in the world, as if it were a 
thing about which there could be any uncertainty. Yet at one 
time the loss of this power seemed a mere question of time. At the 
Falls of St Anthony, which furnish the water-power of Minneapolis, 
the bed of the Mississippi is formed of a hard, bluish-grey limestone, 
which rests upon a bed of soft sandstone. The erosive action of 
the water upon the sandstone is rapid, and when it is worn away 
from under the superincumbent limestone, the latter falls down in- 
to the bed of the stream. The banks of the river show that in 
this way the Falls have receded upwards of ten miles already. 
In 1851 about ninety feet of the limestone gave way at once, and 
as only 1 200 feet more of it remained above the present site of 



182 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

the Falls, Minneapolis was threatened with the complete loss of 
her water power. To avert this, a tunnel was run through the 
soft sandstone behind the Falls, and filled up with concrete, 
while the surface was protected by a strong apron of timber. 
These works, which were executed at a cost of between three- 
quarters of a million and a million of dollars, have stopped the 
recession of the Falls, and assured the prosperity of Minneapolis. 
The loose blocks of limestone scattered over the river bed below 
the Falls, the great rafts of timber, and the mass of floating saw- 
dust and broken wood, do not by any means add to the beauty 
of the " Father of Waters" at this point, but the busy scene on the 
banks, where some twenty-two flour mills, capable of manufac- 
turing over twenty-five thousand barrels of flour daily, and sixteen 
timber mills, which in the previous year had turned out over two- 
hundred and thirty million feet of timber, more than compensated 
for any lack of natural beauty in the surroundings. 

In the afternoon our mule-team was exchanged for Mr 
Miller's pony and carriage the former a Shetland of rare 
beauty, and not much bigger than a full grown Newfoundland 
dog. The carriage was of a size to match; and as I drove Mrs 
Miller into the Fair-ground, our turn-out attracted even more 
attention this time of a different kind than our morning 
equipage had. 

A few trotting matches, a ten mile bare- back race between 
" Bille Cook of California" (who on the previous day had beaten 
Espinosa " the Mexican Dare Devil " in a twenty mile race), 
and " Little Cricket," in which the former won, after a brilliant 
and keenly contested race, satisfied us with the Fair, and after an 
hour or two pleasantly spent with my newly-made friends, speak- 
ing of the old home so far away, I returned to the city, when 
between 9 and 10 P.M. I took my seat in the car which was to 
carry me on to Manitoba. 

For an hour or more the cars were pretty well filled with 
farmers and other families returning home from the Fair, and a 
happy and prosperous lot they all looked. Immediately on 
leaving Minneapolis I got into conversation with a farmer and 
his wife from the shores of Lake Minnetonka. They were past 
middle life, good, honest-looking, and decidedly " sonsy." The 
description that honest couple gave of the beauties of their home 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 183 

and of the lake by which it stood was very enthusiastic, and 
much as their appearance favoured them, I was inclined to 
accept their statements with some reservation, but later on I 
learned from other sources that the country round Lake Minne- 
tonka is rarely beautiful, and leaves little to be desired, either in 
natural beauty, fertility, or climate. 

When we had got rid of our local passengers and settled 
down, I secured a sleeping berth; but I had fallen among a lot of 
farmers who were migrating westwards. One of them a tall, 
raw-boned, leather-hided Yankee, who had sold out his farm in 
Iowa, and was now on his way to take final possession of a free 
homestead grant which he had chosen six months before in 
Dakota lectured his fellow traveller on the relative advantages 
and disadvantages of selling out farms in the older settled States 
for a handsome price, and moving to the free lands in the West, 
and he wound up with " Yer keant of course hev yer orchards 
and sich like comforts in Dakeota as y'had at home ; but what's 
that to the chief object of life ? " This sentiment sent me to bed, 
and to think of the charming candour of this raw-boned pioneer 
of civilisation. Money-making is the chief object of life with 
ever so many of us, but how few will be found to avow the fact 
so unreservedly as this honest though rough piece of humanity 
did. That was my last sight of him. Before I was up in the morn- 
ing he had left us, and gone westward. 

From morning till night our route lay along the fertile 
valley of the Red River of the North. Away on either side of 
us, as far as the eye could reach, stretched rolling prairie lands, 
millions of acres of which are waiting for the settler. As we 
rushed over the small streams and creeks, or by the banks of the 
Red River, the richness and depth of the soil were apparent, but 
on the unbroken plain the scene was desolate enough. Here 
and there a log house was erected, and the farmer and his family 
were busy leading their crops to the stack-yard, but for miles 
there was at times no sign of human habitation in this, one of the 
richest agricultural valleys in the world. 

Between four and five in the afternoon we crossed the 
International boundary at St Vincent, and in a few minutes we 
were at the " Gateway City" of Emerson. According to our ideas, 
Emerson would be called a very small town, but cities are easily 



1 84 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE, 

made in America ; and Emerson, with a population of not more 
than 3000, but with unlimited faith in its own future, calls itself, 
and is entitled to call itself, a city. 

Somewhere about 7 P.M. we steamed into Winnipeg, and 
having found my way to one of the two " good" (save the mark) 
hotels in the place, and enjoyed a cup of tea, I sauntered out 
it was Saturday night to have a look at the place by gas-light. 

Shortly after my arrival in Canada, I learned from the 
Montreal Herald that the Civic Assessment of Winnipeg for 
1882 was 30,000,000 dols., while in the previous year it amounted 
to only 9,000,000 dols. In the same period the population was 
said to have increased from 10,000 to 25,000. I naturally, there- 
fore, expected to find in the city evidences of rapid progress, and 
I was not disappointed. Winnipeg, at the time of my visit, was 
not a comfortable place to move about in, according to our old 
world ideas of comfort. The streets are wide and straight, and 
like all new towns in America, they all run parallel, or at right 
angles to each other, but there had as yet been little attempt to 
make good travelling roadways of them. The original tough, 
clayey soil still formed the surface of the parts of the street de- 
voted to carriage traffic. The side walks were of timber, and 
were raised sometimes as much as five or six feet above the level 
of the portion of the carriage-way immediately outside them. 
This rendered walking rather risky on a dark night in such 
poorly lighted streets as those of Winnipeg then were, but the 
nature of the subsoil is such that the surface-water can only be 
carried away by deep side drains. The form of the carriage-way 
was almost semi-circular, the sides being several feet lower than 
the centre. The footways were built up to about the same level 
as the centre of the carriage-way, and their bare, unprotected 
edges, towering so high above the street beneath, gave them a 
dangerous look to a stranger. 

The principal street of Winnipeg is Main Street, which runs 
from beyond the Canadian Pacific Railway Station at one end of 
the town, to Fort-Garry at the other, considerably over a mile, I 
should say, judging from the time it takes to walk it. Running 
parallel with, and on either side of Main Street, are other streets 
of less importance, which were being rapidly covered with build- 
ings principally dwelling-houses. The intersecting streets were 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 185 

also being built upon, the portions near Main Street being de- 
voted to shops and warehouses. The whole town was littered 
with bricks and timber, and other building material, and buildings 
were being rushed up with marvellous rapidity. Bricklayers and 
carpenters were having a fine time of it, their wages ranging from 
twelve to over twenty shillings of our money per day. The cost 
of living was rather high, and house rents very high. The Win- 
nipeg Sun, an evening paper, was then publishing a series of 
papers by a special reporter who was interviewing some of the 
mechanics who had migrated from Ontario to Winnipeg. These 
all agreed that, notwithstanding the increased cost of living in 
Winnipeg, they were better off than they had been in the older 
province. One man, a carpenter, with a wife and seven children, 
was reported to have said that although he paid 35 dols..a-month 
of rent for a house he would only pay 7 dollars for in Ottawa, he 
had been able to save 50 dollars every month since he came to 
Winnipeg nearly a year before. But then he added that he 
could not do this and pay a rent of 5 dols. a-month for every room 
in his house unless he rented his rooms or took boarders. He had 
boarders, and in that connection he said " I and my wife have 
figured it down pretty closely, and we find that our boarders just 
pay for the food consumed by all of us, my family included." 
A single man could board for five dols. a week, which left a 
pretty wide margin for saving, or he might, if he preferred it, 
live in a tent during the summer months, as many were doing 
in Winnipeg at that time. 

Writing from Winnipeg to the Inverness Courier, in Sep- 
tember 1882, I said 

How long this state of things will continue in Winnipeg it is impossible to say. 
So long as men are found to invest money in buildings things will go on smoothly 
enough. But Winnipeg will not continue tojncrease as it has done in the past if its 
capitalists are to build nothing besides hotels, shops, and houses, and mainly the last. 
Even now, indications are not wanting that a present limit is being reached. Many 
houses are vacant, and one of the Winnipeg papers, the Times, devoted a leader this 
week to soundly rating landlords for demanding rents which give them a return of 
twenty per cent, on their outlay, and letting their houses stand vacant rather than 
reduce rents. 

When we consider that ten years ago all that existed of the City of Winnipeg was 
Fort-Garry, a Hudson Bay Company's trading station, we cannot help being impressed 
by the change which has transformed the lonely prairie into a busy town, and the . 
people of Winnipeg are entitled to great credit for what they have done and are doing. 



1 86 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

But Winnipeg looks forward to being, within a very few years, a much more important 
place than it now is, and it was this expectation that gave rise to the famous boom of 
last spring, when the prices of building lots in Winnipeg went up to a fabulous figure. 
And yet it looks as if Winnipeg is not doing what it might to secure its growth into a 
large city. A few miles east of Winnipeg is the eastern limit of the fertile belt Be- 
yond that the country, for hundreds of miles, consists of rock and swamp. To the 
north, along the Red River Valley, the soil, though rich, is low, and will probably 
not be much more thickly peopled than it is, so long as better land can be got in the 
west, which will be for many years to come. To the south, or south-west, lies the 
" Gateway City" of Emerson, close to the International boundary, and its people do 
not look as if they intended to let Winnipeg become supreme in the North- West with- 
out a struggle. They are so situated, too, that they have competing lines of commun- 
ication with the markets of the world to which they are at present nearer than Winni- 
peg. To the west and north-west are millions of acres of fertile land, some of it 
being, according to report, the most fertile in the world, and this land is being rapidly 
settled. It is in this direction that Winnipeg must look for her customers ; it is to 
serve this district, and make herself indispensable to its people, that she should 
now lay herself out. But this she does not appear to be doing, or to have 
any intention of doing. Winnipeg is fmll of shops and warehouses where 
goods can be purchased wholesale and retail, and the people think that the future 
trade of Winnipeg will be a wholesale one importing goods from the East 
and distributing them throughout the West and North-West. Well, this may be, but 
there are other towns further west, notably Portage la Prairie and Brandon, going into 
the same trade, and as they have the advantage of being nearer the consumer than 
Winnipeg, and seem determined to make a fight for the trade, they may run Winnipeg 
a close race. The only manufacturing industry of any importance in Winnipeg is a 
lumber mill. Although the whole country from which Winnipeg will draw its busi- 
ness is a grain-producing one, there is not a grain elevator or a grist mill in the city. 

There may be a great future in store for Winnipeg, but if there is, her citizens 
must work a policy of waiting for something to turn up will not do. Even building 
speculators will not make a city. On the contrary, they may, by giving the place a 
reputation for dearness, tend to unmake it. There is one scheme on foot which, if 
carried out, will have an important bearing on the future of Winnipeg that is, the 
proposed line of communication with Britain by Hudson's Bay. Looked at on a flat 
map, it does not look as if Hudson's Bay was nearer Britain than New York, but so it 
seems it is. I had an interesting conversation with the manager of one of the banks 
in Winnipeg on this subject, and from him I derived my information. There are two 
proposals made, and two companies have obtained charters. The one proposes to 
build a railway from Winnipeg to Churchill, on Hudson's Bay, a distance of between 
600 and 700 miles. The other scheme, and the one which is supported by the best 
men, is to utilise the water communication by the Red River and Lake Winnipeg, and 
have a railway from the end of Lake Winnipeg to Churchill, a distance of about 360 
miles. It is claimed for these routes that either of them would bring Winnipeg and 
the North-West Territory about a thousand miles nearer Liverpool than the present 
route by Duluth and the Lakes, and between 500 and 600 miles nearer than by the 
Canadian Pacific through line when complete. If this is so, and if either of the two 
schemes should be carried out, Winnipeg would probably become the great centre of 
the grain trade of the Canadian North-West, and indeed the natural point where all 
the trade of that immense territory would be transacted. Meantime, Winnipeg goes 



THE HIGHLANDS AND HIGHLANDERS. 187 

forward with a light heart, introducing the electric light, enlarging her Town Hall at 
a cost of 60,000 dols., laying drains, and wondering what she will do to make her 
streets passable after a shower of rain borrowing a few hundred thousand dollars here 
and there where they can be got, without waiting to think how they are to be repaid 
in short, playing to perfection the role of Micawber among Western cities. 

It is a very safe rule never to " prophesy unless you know," 
but however fond one is of the rule as a guiding principle, 
he is sometimes tempted to disregard it. This was my case in 
Winnipeg. Its whole method of going to work appeared to me 
to be unsound. No business is more precarious in a new town 
with new towns rising on every side of it than " shopkeeping," 
and yet Winnipeg seemed to me to pin its faith to its counters. 
Speculative house and shop building, the only other form of 
industry extensively carried on in the city, was, if anything, 
worse than shopkeeping. The Hudson Bay Railway and Naviga- 
tion scheme will, however, if practicable and carried out in time, 
save Winnipeg, and if coupled with energy on the part of her 
citizens make her a great city. Without it she will become, on 
the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, little more than 
a roadside station on the route to the great West. K. M'D. 

(To be continued.) 



THE HIGHLANDS AND HIGHLANDERS OF SCOTLAND: PAPERS 
HISTORICAL, DESCRIPTIVE, BIOGRAPHICAL, LEGENDARY, 
AND ANECDOTAL. By JAMES CROMB, Author of "Working and 
Living, and other Essays." Dundee : John Leng & Co. 

THIS is a most attractive and readable book, written by a Low- 
lander about- the Highlanders. It is a sign of the times when a 
" Sassenach " writes in such a pleasing, almost flattering, 
manner of the hereditary enemies of his forbears. No Celt 
could have paid a warmer tribute to the many excellencies of the 
Celtic character than Mr Cromb has done in this book, and we 
heartily thank him for it. We have our faults, and Southern 
scribblers have not failed to present them to the world in their 
worst aspects and to greatly magnify them without any reference 
to the other side. Mr Cromb perhaps leans a little too much to 
virtue's side, but such a book as his was wanted, and it will do 
much good. The work treats of the Highland dress, the 
Highlander's love of country, Highland Bards, Pipers, Music, 



i88 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Tartan, Superstition, Feuds, Fidelity; with special chapters de- 
voted to each of the Massacre of Glencoe, Rob Roy Mac- 
gregor, Sir Evven Cameron of Lochiel, Montrose, Viscount 
Dundee, President Forbes, Prince Charles, and Flora Mac- 
donald; and it is very nicely illustrated with lithographs and 
drawings by a Dundee artist, Mr Martin Anderson. The 
chapter on Highland Fidelity is particularly good. We should 
like to quote it at length, but even did our space admit that 
would be unjust to the author. No Highlander should be 
without a copy of the book, and we feel safe in predicting that all 
who peruse it will feel a glow of gratitude to its author. 

The "Introduction" is worthy of the book. After describ- 
ing the mistaken opinions held regarding the Highlanders of 
the past by their Southern neighbours, the author proceeds 
" When they became known, they were found to be honourable 
and brave men devoted to those to whom they owed allegiance, 
and regarding their life as of less value than their integrity." 
Of their leaders he says : 

The Chiefs, whose dignity of manner was not equalled by accomplished courtiers, 
were hospitable and kind, and the good things of their table were as freely offered 
to the wandering stranger or the meanest of their clan as to the King or his Councill- 
ors. The meanest of them could boast a line of ancestry sufficient to put an English 
baron to the blush ; and while their occupation was. war, and their delight to be war- 
like, they had sentiments in their bosom deep and tender as any breathed from 
Southern maiden's lips. 

After telling us that the fidelity of the clansmen to these Chiefs, 
and of Highland soldiers to their officers, was one of the most 
distinctly marked characteristics of the Gael, and that selfish- 
ness was foreign to their nature, he states, with evident regret, 
how in recent years 

They have suffered vicissitudes which call forth the sympathy of all who are ac- 
quainted with their independent character and self-denying lives. Neither their 
tastes, habits, nor traditions have been respected. The country has been invaded by 
bands of pleasure-seekers, and the young and the old sent forth from the happy homes 
in which they lived in contentment and peace. Brave men and virtuous women have 
had to seek a home beyond the seas, that room might be made for sheep and deer 
and Cockney sportsmen. The day may come when we shall go to the glen to pipe, 
and find no one to dance ; we may be in need of bold hearts and lusty arms, and 
when we turn to the mountains and cry for help, no response but the echo of our own 

voice will break the silence We cannot refrain from expressing the 

opinion that it is not good for the people nor for the country that the Highlands 
should be made first a sheep run, then a mere hunting and pleasure ground. Perhaps 
there is exaggeration in the statements regarding the extent of ground wasted for the 
breeding of game. Thousands of acres in the Highlands are scarcely fit for any other 
purpose. Many who have been compelled to leave their native glens, and seek homes 
in the south, or beyond the seas, have, however severe the wrench to sentiment, 
really benefited themselves from a material point of view. Yet it is unquestionable 



LAYS OF LEISURE. 189 

that the country, as a whole, is capable of sustaining in comfort a much larger popula- 
tion than it does. There are fertile valleys, remote glens, and cheerful straths, rich 
in mingled green and purple, from which no smoke ever rises, and where the eye 
cannot find a habitation. Traces there are of cold hearth - stones, and of a. 
people who are gone, yet who lived pleasant and happy lives amid these fair 
surroundings. But sheep, deer, and grouse have hustled them out, and the 
country is the weaker and the poorer. The sporting craze is. besides, demoral- 
ising the people. Does anyone think that the boatman or gillie of to-day, 
who carries his gun and bag over the hills, or rows his boat over the loch, is a fair 
representative of the clansman who responded a century and a half ago to the call of 
his Chief ? Not a bit of him. He is often cringing and servile, and this cringing 
servility is a condition of obtaining employment. Buggins from the City demands it, 
pays for it, and the poor Gael must give it. We do not blame him. It is the lesson 

he has learned from contact with the South The general influence 

of the Saxon on the Gael is to '' unman " him. And that is not all the evil. This 
grouse and deer rearing is a loss to the nation. Can deer, costing ^100 per head 
to rear, and sometimes a great deal more, or grouse, often from ,1 to ^5 a brace, 
ever be profitable for any one concerned, either in breeding or killing them ? 

These quotations from the Introduction will indicate the nature 
of the book, and the warm-heartedness of its author. 



LA YS OF LEISURE : POEMS AND SONGS. By WILLIAM ALLAN. 
London : Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. 1883. 

AN old Highland proverb says, "An uair a bhios Murachadh na 'thamh bidh e 
'ruamhar" (when Murdo is resting he will be delving), a remark which may be appro- 
priately applied to the author of this work. The publication not many months ago of his 
"After-Toil Songs," and now the issue of the present volume show that the author does 
a fair share of "delving" in the fields of poetry and literature in his leisure hours; and 
the quality of the crop satisfies us that his croft is truly on some well-favoured spot on 
the slopes of Parnassus itself. Nay, it would appear that he has been fortunate 
enough to secure "fixity of tenure" on those classic grounds. While saying this, 
however, we are not sure that the last season has been quite so propitious as former 
ones. The present volume consists of a rather mixed variety, alike in point of subject 
and merit. The "Lays" are characterised by much of the native force which Mr 
Allan infuses into his productions, and there are not wanting many of the more deli- 
cate touches which his hand can so well impart. His genius is like one of his own 
Nasmyth hammers, which, in the hand of the mechanic, can be made to come gently 
down on an egg, and barely crack its shell, or, with a force that can crush to atoms a 
mass of solid oak. Very musical and pretty is that short piece, " The Bell in the 
Valley." Right bold on the other hand, like its fearless subject, is the poem entitled 
" Rob Roy's Death," which appeared some time ago in our own pages. A longer 
poem, which also appeared in the Celtic Magazine, is " Drumclog," in which our 
author breathes the old sturdy Presbyterianism of his native country. Perhaps, 
however, the most powerful and vivid in the collection is that entitled " The 
Preacher of Portree," which, notwithstanding a considerable amount of meta- 
morphosis, his readers will recognise as the anonymous metrical tale which 
appeared some months ago under the title of " St Michael and the Preacher." 
Mr Allan, now that he avows the paternity, prefers that it should appear in a 
Scotch garb. He has also shorn it of a good deal that was gruesome in its 
former aspect, but here it is with its " natural force" not one whit abated. The 
poem of the " Preacher" is one of Mr Allan's most powerful and successful attempts, 
and contains pictures that would have done no discredit to the author of "Tarn o' 
Shanter." Its subject is Highland landlord oppression, clerical indifference and 
sycophancy, and their ultimate reward ; and the treatment of it is quite in keep- 
ing with the theme. We c'ordially commend the " Lays of Leisure ;" and the best 
we can say of them is that they wear the impress of the powerful hand and 4arge 
warm heart of the true Scot that every one knows Mr William Allan to be. 



190 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

GOLDEN WEDDING OF CLUNY MACPHERSON, C.B. 

IT will be remembered that on the 2Oth of December 1882, a 
great gathering took place at Cluny Castle, on which occasion 
Cluny and his lady were presented with addresses from almost 
every representative Society in the County of Inverness, in 
celebration of their Golden Wedding. A strong desire has since 
been expressed that a record of the interesting proceedings 
should appear in a more enduring form than newspaper re- 
ports. We have the result before us in a beautifully printed 
brochure of 96 pages, containing all the addresses presented to 
the grand old Chief and his lady, and life-like portraits of both. 
It also contains a list of the subscribers to the magnificent Centre- 
piece, formally presented on the 2Oth of December 1883, with a 
genealogical account of the family from Macgillicattan Mor to 
the present day. The whole has been prepared and edited by 
Mr Alexander Macpherson, banker, Kingussie, Honorary Secre- 
tary to the Testimonial Committee, and it does no small credit 
to his good taste, from a literary as well as from an artistic 
point of view. The readers of the Celtic Magazine do not at 
this time of day require that we should refer at any length to 
Cluny's unblemished life and record as a Highland Chief. A 
sketch of himself and his career appeared in these pages a few 
years ago, which has since been re-printed and circulated by the 
Testimonial Committee among the subscribers ; and it is quoted 
in the " Golden Wedding," by Mr Macpherson. 

The presentation to Cluny and his lady consists of a 
massive silver Candelabrum, or Centre-piece, manufactured by 
Mr James Aitchison, Edinburgh, weighing about seven hundred 
ounces. A sturdy oak tree, springing from the heather and 
bracken, forms the stem, from which radiate nine branches, 
fitted for crystals or candles, and in the centre a richly cut dish 
for fruit or flowers. In front of the tree is placed a group repre- 
senting one of the most interesting and characteristic incidents 
in the history of the famous Chief of 1745, for whose capture 
the Government of the day offered a reward of a thousand 
guineas and a company in one of the regiments of the line, to 
any one who would bring him in dead or alive. The incident is 
thus described in a letter by his son, Colonel Duncan Macpher- 



GOLDEN WEDDING OF CLUNY. 191 

son of Cluny, to Colonel Stewart of Garth, author of the Sketches 
of the Highlanders, dated "Cluny House, pth June 1817:" 

On another occasion, when my father was at Cluny, in a small house inhabited by 
the family after the Castle was burnt, the house was suddenly surrounded by a party 
of soldiers (redcoats, as they were then called,) commanded by Ensign Munro, whose 
information was so correct, and managed matters so secretly that there was no possi- 
bility of my father making his escape ; but, on the emergency, his presence of mind 
did not forsake him, and he stood firm and collected in himself, and although he saw 
himself on the brink of destruction, and ready to fall into the hands of his persecutors, 
by which he must suffer an ignominious death, he deliberately stepped into the kitchen, 
where a servant man was sitting, and exchanged clothes with him, all of which was the 
work of a moment ; and when the officer commanding the party rode up to the door, 
he, without any hesitation, ran out and held the stirrup while dismounting, walked 
the horse about while the officer was in the house, and when he came out again, held 
the stirrup to him to mount, on which the officer asked him if he knew where Cluny 
was ; he answered that he did not, and if he did, he would not tell him ; the officer 
replied, " I believe you would not ; you are a good fellow, here is a shilling for you." 

Unfortunately no authentic portrait of Cluny of the 'Forty- 
five exists, and the artist, Mr Clark Stanton, A.R.S.A., has, 
most appropriately, adopted the features of the present sturdy 
Chief. The conception is a happy one, but we cannot help feel- 
ing a slight regret that the incident illustrated should have 
necessitated such a prominent position for Ensign Munro, while 
Cluny himself, in whose honour the design is got up, should 
hold such a comparatively subordinate place ; but we presume 
this could not be avoided, without sacrificing the historical value 
of the illustration. Suspended on the trunk of the oak, and 
serving to break the line, are a target and other warlike accoutre- 
ments. The base has been designed as far as possible in keeping 
with the Celtic sentiments of the occasion, and bears on one side 
the combined arms of Cluny Macpherson and Davidson, with 
the supporters, crest, and motto ; and on the other a shield, bear- 
ing the following inscription (in Gaelic and English): 

PRESENTED, 
ALONG WITH AN ILLUMINATED ADDRESS, 

TO 
CLUNY MACPHERSON, C.B., AND LADY CLUNY, 

ON THE OCCASION OF THEIR 

GOLDEN WEDDING, 

BY 

THEIR FRIENDS AND CLANSMEN. 
2OTH DECEMBER 1882. 

No other Chief in the Highlands better deserved this honour ; 
and we heartily wish our good friend and his lady many years of 
health and happiness to enjoy it, with the good wishes and, 
indeed, affection of the Highland people. 



192 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



The following Circular is in course of being issued by A. & W. MACKENZIE, 
Publishers, " Celtic Magazine" Office, 25 Academy Street, Inverness: 

PROPOSED HIGHLAND NEWSPAPER, 

TO BE CAL.LEB 

"THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDER,' 



WE have for some time been strongly urged, from influential quarters at home and 
abroad, to take the necessary steps for starting an Independent Weekly Newspaper 
in Inverness, for the special purpose of advocating the claims and promoting the in- 
terests of the Highland people. 

It has been suggested that the present time is specially opportune for a move- 
ment in this direction; and that our Mr Alexander Mackenzie's special knowledge of 
his countrymen, their history, and wants in the present crisis, points to him as the 
most suitable to conduct such a paper; the marked success of the Celtic Magazine, 
under his guidance, when all similar attempts by others failed, being an earnest of his 
ability to prove equally successful in conducting a Highland newspaper. 

To embark in the direction proposed is a serious undertaking, both as regards 
its financial responsibilities and the labour and energy necessary to make the paper in- 
fluential and prosperous. Very liberal support has been already offered, and nothing 
is wanting to induce us and Mr Mackenzie to move in the matter, but a certainty that the 
paper shall be widely and energetically supported by Highlanders, and by their numer- 
ous friends at home and abroad. 

To test the feeling existing among those specially interested, and to put the matter 
beyond question, the present Circular is issued, as the most practical means, to enable 
all who are willing to support a Highland Newspaper to do so in a substantialfo rm, 
by subscribing, and agreeing to pay a year's subscription in advance ; the money not 
to be paid until it is finally decided to issue the paper. 

Should the result prove satisfactory, steps will at once be taken to start a paper 
of eight pages, at one penny. If, on the other hand, such interest is not shown, 
in the manner indicated, as will secure a certain subscribed circulation to begin with, 
of at least five thousand copies, it will not be deemed prudent to proceed any further 
in the matter at present. Whether or not the Highlanders shall have a represent- 
ative paper is thus left in their own hands ; and they should, in a matter of this kind, 
remember that " Heaven helps those who help themselves." 

All who feel interested regarding the position and prospects of the Highland 
people ; and who care for the Language, Literature, Traditions, and the Material 
interests of a noble but ill-used race, will, it is hoped, aid us in securing the necessary 
support for carrying out the object aimed at. 

It is believed that the manner in which the Celtic Magazine has been conducted 
to such a successful issue, will be accepted as a sufficient guarantee that the same pru- 
dence, firmness, and energy which secured that success will be applied with even 
greater results, to the conduct of such a Newspaper as is now proposed. 

The leading friends of the Highland people are fully satisfied however favour- 
able the Report of the Royal Commission may be that the real work of those who 
demand and will insist upon a change in the present Land Laws will only begin in 
earnest when the nature of the Report becomes known. This points strongly to the 
necessity of Highlanders having a special organ of their own to advance their claims. 

A Gaelic department will form a feature of the paper ; and special attention 
will always be given to Local News from every Strath, Glen, and Hamlet, where 
Highlanders are to be found. 

A. & W. MACKENZIE. 



THE 

CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



CONDUCTED BY 



ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A., Scot. 

No. CI. MARCH 1884. VOL. IX. 

THE HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 
By the EDITOR. 

XIV. -v 

SIR EWEN CAMERON Continued. ;. 

LOCHIEL'S settlement with Mackintosh was for him, in the ex- 
isting circumstances, a most favourable one; for not only did the 
yearly rents of the lands far exceed the interest of the money paid 
to Mackintosh, but there were oak and fir woods on both sides 
of Loch-Arkaig, and on other parts of the lands in question, worth 
more than four times the sum paid for the whole. Lochiel, how- 
ever, overlooked to make provision in the agreement for the 
arrears of rent due since the mortgage on the estate was redeemed 
in 1639, and this cost him afterwards, in 1688, no end of trouble 
and annoyance. He is said to have entertained the leading 
men of the two clans his own and the Mackintoshes in his 
house for several days after the agreement was completed, when, 
to all appearance, they parted fully satisfied with the arrange- 
ment come to. 

The Marquis of Athole offered Lochiel the money to pay 
the sum awarded to Mackintosh. Argyll offered it on some- 
what easier conditions, but still conditions which, in future, 
would secure to him and to the House of Campbell the superi- 

N 



194 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

ority of the lands. There was to be no interest payable for 
the money itself, but Lochiel consented to hold the lands 
from Argyll as superior, to pay him a feu-duty of one hundred 
pounds Scots per annum, and to grant him the service of one 
hundred men-in-arms whenever he should require them. These 
conditions later on landed Lochiel in a very difficult position, 
in connection with a dispute which arose between Argyll and 
the Macleans of Duart, to whom Sir Ewen was closely con- 
nected by marriage and consanguinity. Lochiel took the 
part of the Macleans in this quarrel, having, after visiting 
Argyll at Inveraray, and leaving him without notice, hastened 
back to Lochaber, where, being joined by the Macdonalds of 
Glengarry, Keppoch, Glencoe, and others, he marched into Mull, 
and prevented the intended invasion by Argyll for that year. 

To have men in arms without authority was an offence of a 
very serious character, and to punish Sir Ewen, Argyll applied 
to the Privy Council, who, on the 29th of July 1669, issued 
a proclamation, wherein, among others, Lochiel, Maclean, 
and several chiefs, including Argyll himself, are ordered to 
find annual caution to keep the peace. He had, however, pre- 
viously secured the necessary legal authority for punishing the 
Macleans, and, consequently, the proclamation only affected his 
opponents, impartial though it at first appeared by the inclu- 
sion of his own name. At the same time Argyll had a warrant 
against Lochiel for money due by him. Sir Ewen, however, 
started for Edinburgh in the most secret manner, and, notwith- 
standing Argyll's opposition, who was there before him, and was 
himself a member, the Privy Council, on the 28th October, granted 
Lochiel a personal protection. He remained in Edinburgh 
most of the succeeding winter; and he is said to have been so 
exasperated at Argyll's conduct towards him and his friends the 
Macleans, that he would have shot his Lordship on a certain day, 
as he was stepping into his carriage to attend a meeting of the 
Privy Council, had not Lochiel's servant, who stood at his 
master's back, wrested the pistol out of his raised hand, as he was 
about to shoot him. 

Lochiel resided in Mull during summer, for the succeeding few 
years, and Argyll remained at home. In the Spring of 1674, he 
was taken dangerously ill with a " bloody-flux " the only ill- 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 195 

ness he had during his whole career occasioned by cold and 
fatigue endured while supporting the Macleans. His com- 
plaint, which was so severe that his physicians despaired of his 
life, lasted for a whole year, but even while ill, he was still able to 
render great service to his friends by his wise counsel. Ultimately, 
however, Argyll succeeded in bringing about an arrangement, in 
terms of which Lochiel agreed to visit him at Dunstaffnage Castle, 
whither he set out in June 1675. Mutual explanations were made, 
and Argyll satisfied Lochiel that he was prepared to arrange the 
matter in dispute with the Macleans on favourable terms, pro- 
vided that he accompanied him to Mull with fifty men, that the 
whole question might be submitted to certain friends for their 
award. This Lochiel agreed to, and it was ratified by a contract, 
dated the 5th of June 1675. 

The long-vexed question between them having thus been 
settled, Argyll invited Lochiel to spend a few days with him at 
Inveraray. Shortly after their arrival, Argyll suggested that 
his guest should have himself shaved by his Lordship's valet, 
a Frenchman, who, he said, was an adept at his art. Lochiel 
agreed. While the operation was going on, two stalwart Cam- 
erons of the Chief's retinue, who were in the room, were noticed 
standing close together, their backs pressed firmly against the 
inside of the door, one having his eyes fixed on Argyll, the 
other on the valet. After some chaffing remarks between the 
Chiefs as to the suspicious-looking action of the two men, 
Lochiel requested the Earl to ask themselves to explain their 
conduct. In reply, one of them at once answered, " That 
knowing well there had been a difference between his Lordship 
and their Chief, on account of the assistance he had given to the 
Macleans, they suspected, when the valet was called for, that 
there might be a design of murdering their Chief under cover of 
that service, seeing that he had a servant of his own who used to 
perform it, and that, therefore, they were determined, if their 
suspicion proved true, first to dispatch his Lordship, and then the 
valet." Being asked, " What they thought would have come 
of themselves in such a case as that ?" they replied, " We did 
not think about that, but we were resolved to revenge the murder 
of our Chief." Argyll praised them highly, and gave them 
money, at the same time telling Sir Ewen that he believed no 
Prince in the world had more faithful and loving subjects. 



196 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Soon after this Lochiel had occasion to visit Edinburgh, 
when he had the good fortune to meet his Royal Highness the 
Duke of York, afterwards James II. The Prince not only., 
received him with every mark of attention ; but, in a full Court, 
honoured him specially with his conversation, questioning him in 
the most agreeable manner about the adventures of his youth. 
He openly congratulated him upon having arranged a settle- 
ment of the ancient dispute between him and Mackintosh, and 
upon its happy issue, stating, at the same time, that even if his 
brother the King had gone the length of purchasing these lands 
for him, since they were so long in his family and so conveniently 
situated for his clan, it would be but a small reward for the great 
services which he had rendered to the Royal House. The 
Prince, at the close of this address, asked for Lochiel's sword, 
which the Chief at once handed to him, but the Duke was unable 
to draw it from the scabbard ; for the weapon, it seems, " was 
somewhat rusty, and but little used, as being a walking sword, 
which the Highlanders never make use of in their own country. 
The Duke, after the second attempt, gave it back to Lochiel, with 
the compliment that his sword never used to be so uneasy to draw 
when the Crown wanted his service. Lochiel, who was modest 
even to excess, was so confounded that he could make no return 
to so high a compliment ; and knowing nothing of the Duke's 
intention, he drew the sword, and returned it to His Royal 
Highness, who, addressing those about him, said smiling 
' You see, my Lords, Lochiel's sword gives obedience to no hand 
but his own,' and thereupon he was pleased to knight him."* 

*The version in the text is that given by the author of the " Memoirs of Sir Ewen 
Cameron," who knew Lochiel personally. Sir Walter Scott " improves" it by making 
the Duke the King, and by other embellishments, as follows : After the accession of 
James II., Lochiel came to Court to obtain pardon for one of his clan, who, being in 
command of a party of Camerons, had fired by mistake on a body of Athole men, and 
killed several. He was received with the most honourable distinction, and his request 
granted. The King, desiring to make him a knight, asked the Chieftain for his own 
sword, in order to render the ceremony still more peculiar. Lochiel had ridden up 
from Scotland, being then the only mode of travelling, and a constant rain had so 
rusted his trusty broadsword that, at the moment, no man could have unsheathed it. 
Lochiel, affronted at the idea which the courtiers might conceive from his not being 
able to draw his own sword, burst into tears. " Do not regard it, my faithful friend," 
said King James, with ready courtesy, "your sword would have left the scabbard of 
itself, had the Royal cause required it." With that, he bestowed the intended honour 
with his own sword, which he presented to the new knight as soon as the ceremony 
was performed. Tales of a Grandfather. 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 197 

These expressions of favour from the Prince were soon imitated 
by his courtiers, and Lochiel was highly complimented by them 
all on his past exploits and his loyalty to the Crown. His visit 
to Edinburgh on this occasion was in connection with the case of 
two soldiers who had been killed in Lochaber by some of his men. 
There was no word about their trial while the Royal Duke re- 
mained ; but as soon as he left, proceedings were commenced. 
Lochiel, however, was again successful. He told off some of his 
friends to get at the prosecution witnesses, with orders to fill 
them with drink ; the result being that they were all sound asleep 
in an obscure out-of-the-way house, when they should have been 
ready to be sworn and examined as witnesses in the case, and 
Lochiel's friends were dismissed, in the absence of any evidence 
against them, to the great regret and disappointment of his 
enemies. 

The following extracts from Fountainhair s Decisions evi- 
dently refers to, and further explains, this incident : "November 
I4th, 1682. Complaints being exhibited against Cameron of 
Lochiell and some of his clan for sorning, robbing, deforcing, and 
doing violence and affronts to a party of the King's forces, who 
came there to uplift the cess and taxation : The Lords ordained 
them to be presently disarmed of their swords, pistols, and skien- 
durks, and to be securely imprisoned." " November 3Oth, 1682. 
At Privy Council, Cameron of Lochiell, mentioned I4th 
November 1682, is fined, as the head of that clan, in 100 
sterling, for the deforcement and violence offered by his men to 
the King's forces, when they came there to exact the taxations, 
and three of them are referred to the Criminal Court to be pur- 
sued for their lives, as guilty of treason, for opposing the King's 
authority ; the Clerk-Register became cautioner for Lochiel. 
This was done, as was thought, to cause him give way to 
Huntley's getting a footing in Lochaber." 

In August of this year a Commission under the Great 
Seal was issued, renewed by Proclamation from the Council in 
1685, to the Sheriff of Inverness-shire, to hold Circuit Courts 
throughout the Highlands for the trial of various offences. 
Among other places the Sheriff visited Lochaber, where his 
presence was anything but agreeable to Lochiel, who had 
arranged, and carried out pretty successfully, a plan of his own 



ip8 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

for punishing offences among his people. The Sheriff having 
arrived in the district, with a following of seven hundred men to 
protect him on his journey, not only proceeded to try and punish 
offences covered by his Commission, but also crimes and delin- 
quencies committed during the late civil wars. Even Lochiel 
was summoned to the Court, when he presented himself before the 
Sheriff with a following of four hundred men, on the pretence of 
guarding his Lordship, but really with the object of saving his 
own people from what he considered the exercise of a severe 
oppression and injustice. "He foresaw that the Sheriff's haughty 
and tyrannic procedure would be attended with trouble ; and to 
prevent it he could fall upon no method so effectual as that of 
dismissing the Court by some political contrivance or other. He 
singled out three or four of the most cunning or sagacious, but 
withal the most mischievous and turbulent, among his followers. 
Under pretence of enquiring into their conduct with these he 
walked a short way from the place where the Court was sitting, 
and, pretending to be very thoughtful and serious, he dropped 
these words in their hearing, as if he had been meditating and 
speaking to himself; 'Well, this Judge will ruin us all ! He must 
be sent home ! I wish I could do it ! Is there none of my lads so 
clever as to raise a rabble and tumult among them, and set them 
together by the ears? It would send him a-packing. I have 
seen them raise mischief when there was not so much need of it!' 
The fellows I have mentioned caught at those expressions with 
great greediness. They quickly mixed among the Sheriff's train, 
and in three moments thereafter, Lochiel had the pleasure of 
seeing that vast crowd of people in an uproar. The cries of 
murder and slaughter resounded from all quarters. Several 
thousands of swords and dirks were drawn, and yet none knew 
the quarrel, and such a dreadful noise and confusion of tongues 
ensued, with the rattle of swords and other weapons striking 
against one another, that the meeting resembled a company of 
Bedlamites broke lose from their cells, with their chains rattling 
about them." The Sheriff and the members of his Court got 
into a state of great terror, and seeing Lochiel coming in their 
direction, at the head of his men, with drawn swords, they ran 
to meet him, craving his protection. This Lochiel at once 
granted, and afterwards convoyed the Sheriff and his whole 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 199 

retinue, at their own request, safely out of his country, a service 
for which his Lordship subsequently procured for him the thanks 
of the Privy Council. After all the noise and uproar, only two 
men were killed, and a few wounded. The Sheriff was never 
able to discover how the row began, or who was responsible for 
it, for the fellows who started it stole quietly away, and rejoined 
Lochiel and a body of his followers at a distance, whenever they 
saw the sparks taking- effect, and that the desired blaze was sure 
to follow. The Sheriff never after held a Court in Lochaber, and 
Lochiel, as usual, succeeded most effectually in gaining his object 
by clever strategy. 

To add to the general confusion, the Earl of Argyll landed 
with an expedition from Holland in May 1685. The King imme- 
diately sent for Lochiel, and had a long conference with him on the 
subject in his private Cabinet. The Committee in Edinburgh 
advised that his Majesty should send Lochiel home to assist in 
suppressing the Rebellion. The brave Chief at one expressed his 
willingness to do anything in his power, and offered alone, with 
the assistance of his friends, the Macleans, to be responsible for 
Argyll and his rebellion. The King replied that the chief com- 
mand had been already entrusted to the Marquis of Athole, by 
the Privy Council. Lochiel returned to Scotland, receiving his 
Commission from the Council on the 2Oth of May. He was soon 
with Athole, at the. head of 300 of his followers, while as many 
more were commanded to follow him to Inveraray as soon 
as they could get ready. There were, however, more men 
than were required, for Argyll had only about 1500 followers 
altogether, and Lochiel sent some of his men back to their 
homes. The offer by Lochiel to attack the enemy with the Mac- 
leans alone offended the Marquis of Athole, and produced so 
much friction and noise in the camp, that, it is alleged, he sent 
word to the Council of suspicions of Lochiel's loyalty, who 
he feared was in concert with Argyll. An unfortunate incident 
followed which gave strength for a time to this unfounded 
suspicion. Lochiel was ordered out to reconnoitre, without hav- 
ing been informed as to other parties that had been sent 
earlier. He mistook one of these for the enemy, one of whom 
rushed forward and fired his pistol, wounding one of the 
Camerons. Lochiel's followers thereupon fell upon the whole 



200 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

party, and would have cut them all to pieces, had not Mr 
Cameron of Callart recognised a Mr Linton of Pendrich lying 
on his back, defending himself by his blunderbus from the broad- 
sword of one of the Camerons. This discovery saved the 
remainder, but four or five of the party were killed, and several 
wounded, before Callart came up. Lochiel was extremely 
sorry for the accident ; and he soon had reason to regret it 
very seriously. The Marquis of Athole called a Council of war 
to consider Lochiel's conduct, and to decide upon the proper 
action respecting it. " This accident," says our authority, "joined 
with the malicious report already stated, so far confirmed many 
in their suspicions of treachery, that some had the rashness to 
propose the ordering out a strong detachment of the troops, and 
to make Lochiel and his men all prisoners ; and the Lord 
Murray, the Marquis's eldest son, offered to perform that service, 
but Mr Murray of Struan being present in the Council, opposed 
the motion, as not only dangerous, but destructive of the King's 
interest ; ' For/ said he, ' such a man as Lochiel, at the head of 
such a body of men, will not be easily made a prisoner by force. 
The Macleans and Macdonalds will probably join him ; whereby 
the King will not only be deprived of the services of his best 
troops, but a division made in the army, of which the common 
enemy will, no doubt, take the advantage. Besides, it would not 
only be unjust, but even barbarous, to condemn so many people, 
who came there to serve their Prince, without being heard ; and 
it is more than probable, that when the matter comes to be dis- 
covered, it will come out to be wholly an accident occasioned 
by some mistake or other.' This opinion prevailed, and the 
Council broke up without coming to any violent resolution. 
Lochiel, all this while, kept his men aside, and was joined by the 
Macleans. After the first emotions of his passion were over, he 
began to deliberate on what he should do, and soon determined 
that he would not be made prisoner. If he was to suffer, he 
resolved that it should be by the sentence of his master and 
Sovereign, who had hitherto honoured him with his Royal favour. 
The Macleans encouraged him in this resolution, and generously 
offered to stand by him in all fortunes. He advanced near to 
the camp, that he might the more easily inform himself of what 
passed, and drew up his men in two lines, with orders to the left 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 201 

to wheel about in case of being attacked, in order that, being 
thus joined back to back, they might make two fronts. In this 
posture they stood all that night and for most of the following 
day ; and towards the evening they had orders to join the army, 
with a full assurance of safety ; for by this time the Marquis had 
informed himself fully of the matter, which he owned to Lochiel 
to be a mere accident, for which he was not to be blamed, and 
signified as much in a letter he wrote on that subject to my Lord 
Tarbat, who intimated it to the Council." Lochiel after this 
brought in a few prisoners. Argyll was captured near Glasgow, 
sent on to Edinburgh, where he was beheaded, without trial, on 
his old sentence, for High Treason. The army was disbanded on 
the 2ist of June, and Lochiel, with the other leaders, received a 
communication conveying to them the thanks of the Privy 
Council for their hearty concurrence in the King's service, and 
authorising them to disband their men. 

The execution of Archibald, ninth Earl of Argyll, on the 
3Oth of June 1685, proved most troublesome and unfortunate 
for Lochiel, in its ultimate results, as one of his vassals. The 
Duke of Gordon, obtained a gift of the superiority of that 
portion of Lochiel's lands which he held from Argyll, and he 
had himself duly infefted in it. The Duke of York, having pre- 
viously expressed himself in favour of Lochiel, the latter proceeded 
to Court, with the view of securing the superiority for himself, 
which not only was promised to him, but also the lands of 
Suinart and Ardnamurchan, so soon as the necessary documents 
could be completed. But, through an error of his own agents in 
drawing out the deeds, and in consequence of the King's death 
before new ones could be completed, Lochiel was again disap- 
pointed. 

Returning south, great honours were conferred on the 
Marquis of Athole. He was admitted a Member of the Privy 
Council, made Keeper of the Great Seal, and appointed to several 
other important offices. Though he had at the time professed 
himself quite satisfied as to Lochiel's innocence of the charges of 
disloyalty made against him at Inveraray, no sooner did he get 
into power than he proceeded to bring him to trial for his 
alleged misconduct ; and by transmitting most unfavourable mis- 
representations to the King, he secured a warrant for his 



202 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE, 

apprehension. For this purpose, he dispatched Captain Mac- 
kenzie of Suddie to Lochaber, on the pretence of putting down 
some local squabbles in the district, but with private orders to 
seize Lochiel, and bring him to Edinburgh. This, as usual, was 
easier said than done. His eldest daughter, Margaret, was at the 
time in Edinburgh ; and she, obtaining secret information of 
Athole's designs upon her father, at once dispatched a 
soldier of the name of Cameron, in the City Guards, to apprise 
him of his danger. Lochiel removed meanwhile out of the way, 
and, on the arrival of Captain Mackenzie in Lochaber, he 
set out for Edinburgh, consulted his friends there, posted to Lon- 
don, and arrived there before his enemies were actually aware that 
he had left home. On his arrival, he found that the grossest mis- 
representations had been sent in advance of him, and his old 
friends became so convinced of their truth, that not one of them 
could be induced to introduce him to the King, who, they antici- 
pated, would leave him to be dealt with, for his alleged crimes, 
according to the law ; and this notwithstanding that Robert 
Barclay of Ury, the famous Quaker, and great favourite of the 
King, wrote several letters to the English nobility in his 
favour. Ultimately, however, Viscount Strathallan undertook 
to inform the King that Lochiel was in the city. He kept his pro- 
mise, adding that he had been in town for several days, and that 
all his old friends refused to introduce him. The King sent word 
to Lochiel, commanding him to see him next morning in the 
Royal dressing-room, at the same time requesting Lord Strath- 
allan to tell him that "he needed no one to introduce him to us, 
and that we expected the first visit." Sir Ewen was naturally 
highly pleased on receiving the Royal message. He punctually 
obeyed the King's commands, and on his arrival threw himself at 
his Majesty's feet, saying, " that he came there as a criminal with 
a rope about his neck, to put himself and all he possessed in his 
Royal mercy." The King extended him his hand to kiss, and, 
commanding him to rise, told him that he had heard of his mis- 
fortune, at the same time adding, " that accidents of that nature 
had often fallen out among the best disciplined troops," and 
that nothing but actual rebellion would ever convince him 
that he could be disloyal. Sir Ewen expressed his great grati- 
tude for the Royal favour, in the most modest manner, carefully 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 203 

avoiding to make any disparaging reflection on his bitterest 
enemies. 

The most curious incident in connection with this interview 
was yet to come. The King, having completed his toilet, com- 
manded Lochiel to follow him closely behind, and then, fol- 
lowed by Sir Ewen, walked right into the middle of the Chamber 
of Presence, crowded by a very splendid and numerous Court, 
whom his Majesty gaily addressed : " My Lords and gentle- 
men, I advise you to have a care of your purses, for the 
King of the Thieves is at my back ;" then, turning to Lochiel, 
he told him, in the hearing of all present, that he would be 
glad to see him often during his stay in town, at the same time 
thanking him, before the whole Court, in audible terms, for his 
services during the late rebellion. " Never," says his biographer, 
" was there a brighter example of the servile complaisance of 
courtiers than Lochiel had on this occasion ; for he now had them 
all about him, congratulating him upon his Majesty's favour, and 
offering him their services, though, the very day before, he 
could find but one among them that would serve him so far as 
barely to mention his name to his Majesty. The King, on his 
part, let slip no opportunity of testifying his esteem. Sir Ewen 
never appeared in Court during this visit to London but his 
Majesty spoke two or three words to him ; and if he chanced to 
meet with him elsewhere, he had always the goodness to enquire 
about his health, and now and then to put some jocose question 
to him, such as, if he was contriving how to steal any of the fine 
horses he had seen in his Majesty's stables, or in those of his 
courtiers ?" Such compliments were no doubt considered a little 
curious in such august company ! 

The Duke of Gordon, during Lochiel's absence, raised an 
action against him in the Court of Session, to annul his rights and 
titles to the whole of the Cameron estates, in virtue of the Duke's 
titles to the superiority of the Mam-Mor portion, and his having 
obtained, as he alleged, the superiority of the other portion on 
Argyll's forfeiture. To both these the Duke had secured grants 
at different periods from Kings Charles and James ; that from 
the latter dated, 2pth of January, 1686. James knew nothing of 
Lochiel's interest in the superiorities, and expressed himself highly 
indignant at having been imposed upon by the Duke of Gordon, 



204 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

when he came to know the facts. Lochiel complained bitterly 
of the manner in which he had been treated, and forcibly argued 
that, if the Duke could prevail against him in such an 
action, he would be worse punished for his loyalty than the 
other leaders had been for their rebellion. The King promised 
him full reparation, sent for the Duke of Gordon, and severely 
reprimanded him for making his King the author of such a bar- 
barous injustice, by the surreptitious grants he had obtained from 
him of Lochiel's estates, and he insisted upon the whole question 
being left to his own disposal as arbitrator. To this peremp- 
tory demand the Duke felt bound to consent, and he signed 
articles accordingly. Gordon had also taken proceedings against 
Lochiel, in conjunction with a Mr Seaton, for a debt due 
to the forfeited Earl of Argyll. The King opposed this 
claim also, and the result in both cases was communicated to 
the Commissioners of the Treasury in a letter dated 2ist of 
May 1688, in which the King intimates " Our Royal will and 
pleasure, that Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel should have new 
rights and charters of the property of his lands, formerly held by 
him of the late Earl of Argyll, and fallen into our hands by 
reason of his forfeiture, renewed and given by George Duke of 
Gordon, our donatory in the superiority thereof, for a small and 
easy feu-duty, not exceeding four merks for every 1000 merks 
of free rent." Respecting the debt, the letter concludes, that 
Lochiel " be fully exonered and discharged for the same at all 
hands, and in all time coming, notwithstanding of any procedure 
that may have already, or hereafter may be made against him at 
the instance of any person whatever." In addition to this the 
King subsequently declared " that he would not have Lochiel 
nor any of his people liable to the Duke's courts, for he would 
have Lochiel master of his own clan, and only accountable to 
him or his Council, and to have no further to do with his Grace 
than to pay him his feu-duty." A formal deed embodying these 
conditions was drawn up, but the Duke still attempted to avoid 
signing the necessary charter, and in fact refused to do so until 
compelled by the King himself, which happened two days after, 
when he was obliged to sign in his Majesty's presence ; and 
Lochiel was then, for the first time, legally the absolute and 
independent master of his own clan. 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 205 

Shortly after this, however, he is again in difficulties. Mac- 
kintosh determined to invade Keppoch, in Lochaber, to eject the 
Macdonalds for non-payment of rents which Mackintosh claimed 
as legal superior of their lands. Lochiel tried to arrange matters 
between them, but failed in doing so, and immediately afterwards 
he proceeded to Edinburgh. In his absence, the Macmartin Cam- 
erons, who were closely related to the Macdonalds of Keppoch 
by frequent intermarriages as well as being otherwise on friendly 
terms with them, finding that Lochiel had left home without ex- 
pressing any views on the question, or leaving any instructions 
as to what his followers were to do, offered their services to 
Keppoch. Mackintosh marched to Lochaber with about a thou- 
sand of his own men, and a company of the King's troops, under 
Captain Mackenzie of Suddie, by order of the Privy Council. 
Keppoch, with about half the number of the invaders, defeated 
Mackintosh and took him prisoner, while many of his followers 
were slain, including Captain Mackenzie, who was mortally 
wounded*. Before releasing his prisoner, Keppoch compelled 
him to renounce his claims and titles to the lands in dispute. 
Lochiel was held responsible by the Privy Council. for the con- 
duct of his vassals on this occasion. He, however, managed to 
escape in a very clever manner. Viscount Tarbat, a member 
of the Council, was a friend and relative of Lochiel, and he 
agreed, if the Council should decide against Sir Ewen, to make 
a certain sign to him from the window of the Council Chamber. 
Lochiel was accused not only as accessory to Keppoch's con- 
duct, but as principal author of the bloodshed, " in so far that it 
was notorious that Keppoch durst not have attacked Mackintosh 
with his own followers without the assistance of the Camerons, 
for whose crimes Lochiel was obliged to answer." It was carried 

* Scott gives the following account of Captain Mackenzie's death : "He was 
brave, and well armed with carabine, pistols, and a halbert or half-pike. This officer 
came in front of a cadet of Keppoch, called Macdonald of Tullich, and by a shot 
aimed at him, killed one of his brothers, and then rushed on with his pike. Notwith- 
standing this deep provocation, Tullich, sensible of the pretext which the death of a 
Captain under Government would give against his clan, called out more than once, 
' Avoid me, avoid me.' ' The Macdonald was never born that I would shun,' replied 
Mackenzie, pressing on with his pike ; on which Tullich hurled at his head a 
pistol, which he had before discharged. The blow took effect, the skull was fractured, 
and Mackenzie died shortly after, as his soldiers were carrying him to Inverness." 
Tales of a Grandfather, 



206 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

in the Council, by a majority, that he should be at once arrested 
and committed to prison for further trial, and a warrant was 
issued for his apprehension forthwith. 

Lochiel was prepared. Lord Tarbat made the preconcerted 
signal ; and after some difficulty as to where he would conceal 
himself, the happy thought occurred to him of retiring into the 
City jail, under pretence of visiting one of the prisoners. No one, 
he correctly conceived, would ever dream of his having gone to 
such a place to hide himself, and he knew that a clansman of his 
own, on whom he could rely, held a position of trust in the prison. 
This man, James Cameron, who was jail clerk, favoured his de- 
signs ; and, remaining in the prison until after dark, Sir Ewen 
stole out of the City as privately as he could, and, with his usual 
dexterity and good fortune, soon arrived safely among his friends 
in Lochaber. Shortly after, in the month of October, he received 
intimation from the Chancellor that the Prince of Orange was 
preparing to invade the kingdom with a great fleet, and request- 
ing him to march into Argyllshire, withes many men as he could 
get together on such short notice. This message was confirmed 
by the Privy Council in a second order, dated the 4th of the 
same month, and it was at once obeyed. Lochiel and Sir John 
Drummond, with a force of about 1200 men, kept that 
county from rising, until they received intimation from the 
Chancellor that the King had been betrayed and deserted 
on all hands, and that he had fled to France. While on this 
service Lochiel was put in possession of Suinart and Ardna- 
murchan by the Lord Lieutenant, in terms of a warrant from the 
Earl of Balcarres, dated the 3rd of October 1688. He received 
a new grant of these lands from the King himself on his arrival in 
Ireland soon after ; and no more is heard of the action raised 
against him by the Privy Council in connection with the Keppoch 

affair. 

( To be continued.) 



THE FEATHER BONNET AND THE HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
The Inverness Town Council, on the motion of Provost Macandrew, seconded by 
the Editor of the Celtic Magazine, on the 4th of February, petitioned the House of 
Commons and the War Office in favour of the retention of the Feather Bonnets in 
the Highland Regiments, it having been one of the leading features of the dress of the 
Highland soldier for more than a hundred years. The modern " tailoring " propen- 
sities of the War Office were severely condemned. 



2O7 

FAIRIES IN SUTHERLAND. 

TOWARDS the north end of the hamlet of Swordly, in Suther- 
landshire, there is a conical hill called CatJiair RJii MJirail, upon 
the summit of which the fairies were wont to hold their nightly 
revels in days gone by. Upon the north face of the hill is a 
small cleft, which, it is said, served the purpose of an entrance 
and exit to and from the interior of the hill for its uncanny 
inhabitants. Near to this hill, and on the edge of a burn, there 
stood a mill, which was owned by a stalwart fellow known as 
" Adhamh Mbr" to whom the fairies were often a source of great 
annoyance. . One Saturday, having occasion to be in the mill till 
a late hour, he took his shaving utensils along with him; for in 
those parts no one, among the peasantry at least, was ever known 
to shave on Sunday. When well on in the night, and when all 
the rest had left the mill, Adhamh placed a skillet with water on 
the fire to heat it for shaving, and just then a little, ill-favoured 
female entered the mill and took a seat at the fireside opposite 
to him. She sat for some time in silence, but every time Adhamh 
looked at her, she made wry faces at him, which annoyed him 
very much. At length she broke silence by asking " C' ainm a 
ttioirt?" He testily replied, " Mi-fhein" At last he could stand 
the annoyance no longer ; the water in the skillet was boiling, and 
lifting the vessel off the fire, he threw its scalding contents in her 
face. She ran out, howling dismally, and immediately there 
came a voice from across the burn, " Co rinn, co rinn?" to which 
she could only answer " Mi-fhein^ Mi-fJiein" The voice replied 

" Na'm b'e neach eile dheanadh, 
'S raise gu'n dioladh." 

Adhamh lost no time in turning off the water and closing the 
mill. He made his way home and went to bed, and when he rose 
next morning, the mill was razed to the ground. It was not re- 
built, but its site and the course of the lade are still discernible. 

After the middle of last and during the early part of the 
present century, the distillation of illicit whisky was carried on in 
the Highlands to an extent which would now be scarcely credited, 
and nowhere was the trade carried on so long or to the same 
extent as on the heights of the parish of Reay. The following 
verse is the only one that I now remember of a song composed 
during the time that the trade was in full swing : 



208 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

" Leann gu Ie6ir an Ach-a-Reasgair, 
Leann a' nasgaidh 'sa Chnoc-Fhiunn ; 
Leann gu Ie6ir 'san Airidh-shleibhe, 
'S ann is eigin dhql a" dhanns'. " 

One afternoon near the Christmas time two men left Strathy 
for this "Airidh-shleibhe" to procure illicit spirit, but when they 
got there they had to remain for some hours until the people 
around retired for the night. It may be surmised that, as the 
Gaelic phrase has it, " nach robh an cridhe air an oidhche," 
while waiting. They left the bothy about midnight with an 
anker of whisky, and as they were ascending Druim-Hollistan, 
they heard the sound of distant pipe music, saw lights, and 
people dancing, some distance in front of them. They approached 
the spot, and so enticing was the music that the man who carried 
the anker could not resist joining in the dance, and he soon dis- 
appeared in the throng. His companion, after waiting for him 
some time, impatiently exclaimed, " Dhia beannaich mise, gu de 
so?" (God bless me, what's this?) Immediately the name of the 
Deity was pronounced, all was silent, and the man was alone. 
He went home and told how he had lost his companion, and was 
told, " Fuirich lath' is bliadhna," (Stay for a year and a day), 
and this advice he followed, going to the spot when the time had 
expired, but without effect. Seven years waiting was the next 
advice, and sure enough the scene was then re-acted. He waited 
until the course of the dance brought his long lost friend in front 
of him, with the anker of whisky still upon his shoulder. He then 
caught him by the coat, and dragged him out of the circle, when 
the dancer exclaimed, " Dhia beannaich mi 'dhuine, leig dhomh 
crioch a chur air an ruidhil !" (God bless me, man, let me finish 
the reel !) The sacred name had the same effect as on the pre- 
vious occasion, the dancers disappeared, and the rescued and the 
rescuer went home together; but/ when examined, the cask was 
found to be empty.' 

One of the survivors of the band of men raised by the first 
Lord Reay to assist Count Mansfeldt in Austria, returned to 
v Strathy, married, and had a family. After some years of matri- 
mony, however, he greatly annoyed his wife by leaving the house 
at night, and going away, no one knew whither, despite persua- 
sion, entreaty, or threats. If they attempted to restrain him, he 
always managed to escape, and did not return till early morning. 
The neighbours came to the conclusion that he was keeping 



FAIRIES IN SUTHERLAND. 209 

company with the fairies, and one night his wife got two stalwart 
friends to attempt to keep him in. Accordingly, his wife and 
family retired to rest as usual, but he stayed chatting with his 
friends at the fireside. As it approached midnight, his com- 
panions took hold of him on each side in a manner which made 
escape almost impossible, but all at once he fell down between 
them apparently dead. Thinking it only a feint, to put them off 
their guard, they redoubled their vigilance. Immediately the 
cock crew, he revived, and was soon on his legs, when his friends 
commenced to jest with him, saying he had missed his company 
for that night. He, however, assured them that this was not the 
case, that he had been all the way to Durness, a distance of forty 
miles, with his unknown companions. His neighbours laughed 
at him, saying that he had been lying between them all the time, 
But to prove the truth of his statements he said, " Mar dhearbh- 
achd air na tha mi 'g radh a bhi fior, mharbh sinn fiadh a'm 
Beallach-na-fe'ith an Duirinis, ach, thanaig a 'chuis cho teann 
oirn, 's gun d'fhag sinn a chore leis an do bhruan sinn e an sas 
ann." That is, that they had killed a deer in a certain place in 
Durness, and had left the gully with which they had stabbed it, 
in the carcase ; and on enquiry this was found to be- the fact, for 
a deer's carcase was found at the place specified, with a gully 
sticking in it. 

The last person on record in Sutherlandshire that was liftea 
by the fairies was a Macdonald, who resided at a wild, lonely 
spot called Polcriskaig, and was known as " Bodach a Phuill." 
One night about Hallow-tide (Samhuinn) he went out to look 
after his horse, and, not returning, his wife and son went in 
search of him, but he was not to be found, for it is said that about 
the time his wife began to wonder at his long absence, he was 
carried away and dropped by the fairies on a hillside in Strath 
Halladale, a place wholly unknown to him, and about sixteen 
miles from his own home. He found his way to a house near at 
hand, and, surprising its inmates by asking if he were in Scot- 
land, immediately fainted. Next day he was able to go home. 
He lived to an extreme old age, but ever after this incident he 
was somewhat facile, a common thing, it was said, with people 
that had been borne off in that manner. 

Edinburgh. ALEXANDER MACKAY. 

O 



210 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 
BY ALEXANDER MACBAIN, M.A., F.S.A. SCOT. 

XI. GODS OF THE GAELS (Continued}. 

CORMAC informs us in his Glossary that Neith was the god of 
battle among the pagan Gael, and that Nemon was his wife, in- 
formation which is repeated in other and later manuscripts with 
some variations and additions. We are vouchsafed no further 
information as to Neith's character or actions ; only he appears 
in some of the inevitable pedigrees, and we are told that Neit, 
son of Indu, and his two wives, Badb and Nemain, were slain at 
Ailech by " Neptur (!) of the Fomorians." With Nemain may be 
compared the British war goddess Nemetona, whose name appears 
on an inscription along with that of Mars Lucetius. There 
would appear to have been more than one war goddess ; the names 
Badb, Nemain, Macha, and Morrigan, constantly recur as those 
of war deities and demons. Badb signifies a scald-crow, and 
may be the generic name of the war goddess rather than a proper 
name. The crow and the raven are constantly connected in .the 
Northern Mythologies with battle-deities. " How is it with you, 
Ravens?" says the Norse " Raven-Song," "whence are you come 
with gory beak at the dawning of the day. There is flesh cleav- 
ing to your talons, and a scent of carrion comes from your mouth. 
You lodged last night I ween near where ye knew the corses 
were lying." The greedy hawks of Odin scent the slain from 
afar. The ravens also protect and assist heroes, both in Irish 
and Norse myth. It was a lucky sign if a raven followed a 
warrior. Of Macha, the third goddess mentioned, little need be 
said ; she appears afterwards as a queen of Ireland, under the 
title of Macha Mongruad, or Macha Red-Mane. The goddess 
Morrigan was also a war deity to all appearance. The name 
signifies " great queen," and may be, like Badb, a generic name. 
She is represented as first resisting and afterwards assisting the 
hero Cuchulainn, appearing to him in various forms. O'Curry 
makes her the wife of the Dagda, and she is often equated with 
the goddess Ana. The name is doubtless the same as that of 
Morgan le Fay, the fairy queen and Arthur's sister. It may be 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 211 

remarked that Morgan le Fay is also wife of Urian Rheged, who 
and his son Owen, with the army of ravens, are clearly war deities. 

The goddess Ana or Aine (gen. Anann) has been called the 
queen of heaven, and connected with the worship of the moon. 
Cormac describes her as " mater deorum Hibernensium" mother 
of the Irish gods. "Well she used to nourish the gods," he adds, 
and in another place he says, "As Ana was mother of the gods, so 
Buanann was mother of the Fiann (heroes)." Camden found in 
his time survival of moon-worship. " When they see the moon 
first after the change," he says, " commonly they bow the knee 
and say the Lord's Prayer, and then, with a loud voice, they 
speak to the moon, thus ' Leave us whole and sound as thou 
hast found us.'" Keating gives the name of this goddess as 
Danann, and explains the Tuatha-De-Danann as the worshippers 
of the gods of Danann, the gods of Danann being, according to 
him, Brian, lucharba, and luchar. These three gods are known 
in other myths as the "children of Turenn," slain, as Keating him- 
self says, by Luga Lamfada. The goddess Buanann, mentioned 
in connection with Ana or Anann, appears in the story of the 
great Druid Mogh Ruith as his patron, to whose Sid he fares to 
consult her in his difficulties. 

Minerva is the fifth and last deity mentioned by Caesar as 
worshipped by the Gauls their goddess of arts and industry. 
A passage in Solinus, and another in Giraldus Cambrensis, enable 
us to decide, with absolute certainty, what goddess answered 
among the Gaels to the position of Minerva. Solinus (first 
century A.D.) says that in Britain, Minerva presides over the hot 
springs, and that in her temple there flamed a perpetual fire, 
which never whitened into ashes, but hardened into a strong 
mass. Giraldus (i2th century A.D.) informs us that at the shrine 
of St Brigit at Kildare, the fire is allowed never to go out, and 
though such heaps of wood have been consumed since the time of 
the Virgin, yet there has been no accumulation of ashes. " Each 
of her nineteen nuns has the care of the fire for a single night in 
turn, and on the evening before the twentieth night, the last nun, 
having heaped wood upon the fire, says, ' Brigit, take charge of 
your own fire, for this night belongs to you.' She then leaves 
the fire, and in the morning it is found that the fire has not gone 
out, and that the usual quantity of fuel has been used." This 



212 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

sacred fire was kept burning continually for centuries, and was 
finally extinguished, only with the extinction of the monasteries 
by Henry VIII. Brigit, therefore, is the Gaelic Minerva. She is 
goddess of the household fire ; her position is that of the hearth 
goddess Vesta, as much as that of Minerva, for evidently she is 
primarily a fire-goddess. Her name is probably from the same 
root as the English bright, Gaelic breo. The British goddess, 
Brigantia, is doubtless the same as the Irish Brigit. Mr Whitley 
Stokes picks out the following instances in proof of her character 
as a fire-goddess ; she was born at sunrise ; her breath revives the 
dead ; a house in which she stays flames up to heaven ; she is fed 
with the milk of a white red-eared cow; a fiery pillar rises from her 
head, and she remains a virgin like the Roman goddess, Vesta, 
and her virgins Vesta, whom Ovid tells us to consider " nothing 
else than the living flame, which can produce no bodies." Cor- 
mac calls her the daughter of the Dagda. "This Brigit," he says, 
" is a poetess, a goddess whom poets worshipped. Her sisters 
were Brigit, woman of healing; Brigit, woman of smith work ; that 
is, goddesses ; these are the three daughters of the Dagda." Doubt- 
less these three daughters, thus distinguished by Cormac, are one 
and the same person. Brigit, therefore, was goddess of fire, the 
hearth and the home. 

The rest of the Gaelic pantheon may be dismissed in a few 
sentences. Angus Mac-ind-oc, " the only choice one, son of Youth 
or Perfection," has been well called the Eros the Cupid of the 
Gael. "He was represented with a harp, and attended by bright 
birds, his own transformed kisses, at whose singing love arose in 
the hearts of youths and maidens." He is the son of the Dagda, 
and he lives at the Brugh of the Boyne ; in one weird tale he is 
represented as the son of the Boyne. He is the patron god of 
Diarmat, whom he helps in escaping from the wrath of Finn, when 
Diarmat eloped with Grainne. The River Boyne is also connected 
with the ocean-god Nuada ; it was called the wrist of Nuada's 
wife. The literary deity was Ogma, brother of the Dagda, sur- 
named "Sun-face"; he invented the alphabet known as the Ogam 
alphabet, and, as was pointed out already, he is mentioned by 
Lucian as the Gaulish god of eloquence. Three artisan gods are 
mentioned : Goibniu, the smith, invoked in the St Gall Incanta- 
tions of the 8th century; Creidne Cerd, the goldsmith; and Luch- 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 213 

tine, the carpenter. These three made the Tuatha arms ; when 
the smith finished a spear-head, he threw it from his tongs to- 
wards the door-post, in which it stuck by the point ; the carpenter 
had the handle ready, and threw it accurately into the socket ; 
and Creidne Cerd pitched the nails from his tongs into the holes 
in the socket of the spear. Thus was the spear finished in less 
time than we can describe the process. Diancecht was the 
physician of the gods ; at Moytura battle he prepared a medical 
bath, into which he plunged the wounded, and they instantly 
came out whole again, and returned to the fight. The three De- 
Danann queens, Eire, Fodhla, and Banbha, gave their names to 
Ireland, but the first is the one which is usually recognised. It 
may be observed that these names, and those of some others of 
the gods are scattered widely over the topography both of Ire- 
land and Scotland. In the latter country we meet with Eire, and 
its genitive Erenn in river and district names ; Fodla forms part 
of Athole, Ath- Fodhla, probably; Banba appears in Banff; 
Angus the Beautiful gave his name to Angus ; Manannan's 
name appears in the Isle of Man, and as the old name of the dis- 
trict at the mouth of the Forth, still seen in Clackmannan. 

THE CELTIC ELYSIUM. 

All the Aryan nations originally believed in the existence, 
after death, of the human soul. This belief had its root in the 
" animism " of a more barbaric period of their existence, and held 
its place in the remnants of ancestral worship we meet with in 
Rome and Greece, and in the many myths bearing on the land 
of shades. Evidently, too, the pre- Aryan tribes of Europe were 
strong believers in the future existence of man's second self, his 
soul. Their barrows, dolmens, and stone-circles point distinctly to 
their reverence for the dead, and theirbelief in their continued exist- 
ence in another sphere of nature, from which they visited, helped 
and admonished their living representatives. Ancestor worship 
clearly was their main creed. Hence the vividness of the belief 
of the early Northern Aryans Celts and Teutons in future 
existence, and their clinging to ancestor worship so long, may 
arise from their mingling with a people who was in that stage of 
belief ; whereas, at the dawn of our era, in Greece and Rome, the 
whole doctrine of a future state belonged to the region of languid 



214 THE CELTIC MAGAZINES. 

half-belief. The aristocracy and the philosophers entirely dis- 
believed it. Caesar, as supreme pontiff of Rome, declared, in 
his place in the senate, his utter disbelief in another life, and the 
stern Cato but mildly replied that their ancestors, men, perhaps, as 
wise as Caesar, believed that the guilty, after death, were sent to 
noisome abodes, full of all horrors and terrors. But the classical 
belief, even at its best in the poems of Homer gives but a poor, 
shadowy, comfortless existence to the spirits of the dead. They 
lived in Hades, a country which comprised various districts of 
woe, and of bliss such as it was. The ghost of Achilles says to 
Ulysses : " Rather would I live on earth as a poor man's hire- 
ling, than reign among all the dead." The gods lived on the 
heights of Olympus, aloft in heaven, and far apart from the hated 
abode of the dead, which lay under the earth and ocean. Mortals 
were all consigned to the grisly realm of Pluto ; even the demi- 
god Hercules, though living in Olympus, had his ghostly mortal 
counterpart in Hades. Among the Romans, ancestor worship 
had a stronger force than in Greece ; their feast of the dead was 
duly celebrated in the latter half of February, when chaplets were 
laid on their tombs, and fruit, salt, corn soaked in wine, and 
violets, were the least costly offerings presented to them. The 
deification of the Emperors was merely a further development 
of this ancestor worship. The remembrance of the festival of 
the dead is still kept up in the Roman calendar as the feast of 
All Souls. The Celts of Brittany preserve still the remembrance 
of the ancestor worship on this day ; they put cakes and sweet 
meats on the graves, and at night make up the fire and leave the 
fragments of the supper on the table, for the souls of the dead of 
the family who will come to visit their home. 

The Celts would appear to have had a much more vivid 
belief in future existence than either the Greeks or the Romans. 
We may pass over the Druidic doctrine of transmigration ; it was 
doubtless not the popular view of future life. We know as much 
from some side references in one or two classical writers. So 
realistic was the Celtic belief in existence after death that money 
loans were granted on the understanding that they were to be 
repaid beyond the grave ! Valerius Maximus laughs at the 
Gauls for " lending money which should be paid the creditor in 
the other world, for they believed that the soul was immortal." 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 215 

Mela tells us one of the Druidic doctrines that was publicly 
preached and nationally believed in, namely, that the soul was 
eternal and that there was another life in the land of shades. 
"Accordingly," he adds, "they burn and bury along with the dead 
whatever was once useful to them when alive. Business accounts 
and debt claims used to be transferred to the next world, and 
some even willingly cast themselves on the funeral piles of their 
relatives under the impression that they would live with them 
hereafter." Diodorus Siculus informs us that at the funeral of 
their dead some threw letters addressed to their defunct relatives 
on the funeral pyre, under the belief that the dead would read them. 
This intense belief in the reality of future existence must have 
removed the Celtic other-world from the unreal and shadowy 
Hades of Greece and Rome. What the exact character of this 
other world was among the Gauls we cannot well say ; but the 
later legends in France, Wales, and Ireland go to prove that it 
partook of the nature of an Earthly Paradise, situated in some 
happy isle of the West. The pseudo-Plutarch introduces a gram- 
marian Demetrius as returned from Britain, and saying " that 
there are many desert islands scattered round Britain, some of 
which have the names of being the islands of genii and heroes. 
The island which lay nearest the desert isles had but few inhabi- 
tants, and these were esteemed by the Britons sacred and 
inviolable. Very soon after his arrival there was great turbulence 
in the air and portentous storms. The islanders said when these 
ceased that some one of the superior genii had departed, whose 
extinction excited the winds and storms. And there was one 
island where Saturn was kept by Briareus in a deep sleep, 
attended by many genii as his companions." The poet Claudian 
evidently records a Gaulish belief in the Island of Souls in the 

lines : 

" Est locus extremum pandit qud Gallia litus, 
Oceani praetentus aquis, ubi fertur Ulixes 
Sanguine libato populum movisse silentem. 
Illic umbrarum tenui stridore volantum 
Felebilis auditur questus. Simulacra colon! 
Pallida defunctasque vident migrate figuras." 

Beyond the westernmost point of the Gallic shore, he says, is the 
place where Ulysses summoned the shades (as Homer has it.) 
There are heard the tearful cries of fleeting ghosts ; the natives 
see their pallid forms and ghostly figures moving on to their last 



216 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

abode. The traditions of Brittany, with true Celtic tenacity, still 
bear traces of this belief ; at the furthest extremity of that dis- 
trict, where Cape Raz juts into the Western Sea, lies the Bay of 
Souls, where departed spirits sail off across the sea in ghostly 
ships to the happy isles. Procopius, in the 6th century, enables 
us to understand what the peasants of Northern Gaul believed 
in regard to the Happy Isles, and to Britain in particular. He 
confuses Britain with a fabulous island called Brittia, one half of 
which is habitable ; but the other half, divided off by a wall, is set 
apart to be the home of ghosts. The fishermen on the continent 
opposite to Brittia performed the functions of ferrymen for the dead. 
" At night they perceive the door to be shaken, and they hear a 
certain indistinct voice summoning them to their work. They 
proceed to the shore under compulsion of a necessity they cannot 
understand. Here they perceive vessels not their own appar- 
ently without passengers. Embarking, they take the oars, and 
feel as if they had a burden on board in the shape of unseen pas- 
sengers, which sometimes sinks the boat to within a finger-breadth 
of the water. They see no one. After rowing for an hour, they 
reach Brittia, really a mortal journey of over twenty-four hours. 
Arrived at Brittia, they hear the names of their passengers and 
their dignities called over and answered ; and on the ghosts all 
landing, they are wafted back to the habitable world." 

So far we have discovered among the early Celts an intense 
conviction in a personal existence in another world, where they 
" married and gave in marriage," and into which business trans- 
actions of this world might be transferred. Its locality was to 
.the west an island in the land of the setting sun, or possibly a 
country under the western waves, for the traditions of Brittany, 
Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland continually insist on the 
existence of such a land. Buried cities are recorded as existing 
to the westward of every prominent Celtic cape ; that sunken 
district of Lyonesse which appears in all Brythonic traditions. 
The very earthly character of the Celtic world of the departed is 
seen in the surviving remembrances of it still existent, despite all 
the Church's efforts, in the mythic tales ; an Earthly Paradise it 
truly was. We do not find much in Welsh myth bearing on the 
matter ; it is in Irish and Gaelic tales that we have the material 
for judging of the character of the Celtic Elysium. 
(To be continued.) 



A RUN THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 
BY KENNETH MACDONALD, F.S.A., Scot. 



AFTER spending a few days in Winnipeg, I went westward to 
Portage-la- Prairie, seventy miles by rail from Winnipeg, and 
during the journey I was much struck with the difference in the 
character of the soil within a comparatively short area in this 
continent of rich land. The surface in the neighbourhood of 
Winnipeg consists of fine black loam, averaging, where I examined 
it, from eighteen inches to two feet in thickness. Under this 
there is a very deep deposit of clay, which, it is said, will yield as 
good crops, if turned over, as the black soil on the surface. In 
places this clay is ninety feet in depth. The people of Manitoba 
do not, therefore, use an extravagant figure of speech when they 
say that the Red River Valley is capable of producing rich crops 
for a century without manure. The drawback of the valley, how- 
ever, to the agriculturist, is its very slight elevation above the 
river, rendering it subject to floods, and its flatness, which, with 
such a non-porous soil, renders drainage extremely difficult. On 
account of these drawbacks, portions of the valley which were 
settled over thirty years ago, were abandoned, and are now gone 
out of cultivation. When the river rises above its banks, it ne- 
cessarily covers a great extent of land, where for miles there is 
not twelve inches of difference in the level of the surface. But 
fortunately floods have not been of frequent occurrence, and they 
are likely to be of even less frequent occurrence in the future than 
in the past, as the river is gradually deepening its bed, and there- 
by increasing its capacity to contain within its banks the water 
of the large territory forming its drainage area. 

Westward from Winnipeg, however, the character of the soil 
changes. At High Bluffs there is what in that country passes 
for a considerable elevation, and from there westward the soil is 
rich, porous, and well drained. At Portage-la-Prairie the black 
soil forming the surface extends commonly to two feet in depth. 
For all practicable purposes it is as rich as the soil at Winnipeg, 
and it is much more easily worked. It has enough of sand in it 
to make it sharp, and not so much as to make it poor. At Win- 



218 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

nipeg a shower of rain converts the whole surface into a slippery, 
tenacious, paste, which, when it dries, is baked into a hard 
crust At Portage-la-Prairie no such effect follows. A few hours 
after a shower the land is dry and open as ever, and yet not 
parched, the clay subsoil forming a reservoir of moisture which 
continues to feed the crop above. 

A few weeks before my visit, Portage-la-Prairie had been 
visited by a large number of gentlemen connected with the Press, 
who were shown over the whole country as far as the south end 
of Lake Manitoba, and while I was in the town one of the lead- 
ing citizens informed me that these gentlemen had expressed the 
opinion that the wheat crops they saw between Portage and Lake 
Manitoba would yield an average of forty-five bushels to the 
acre. 

While I was in Winnipeg I had the good fortune to make 
the acquaintance of Mr J. R. Martin, a member of a firm of 
barristers in Hamilton, Ontario. From him I received a note 
introducing me to Mr Nicholas Garland, of Portage-la-Prairie. 
The history of Mr Garland, which I got from himself, and -verified 
otherwise, is a striking example of the rapidity with which 
fortunes are occasionally made in the West. In the month of. 
September 1881, Mr Garland, who had for twenty-six years 
carried on business as a dry goods merchant in Caledonia, near 
Hamilton, Ontario, visited Manitoba, and formed the opinion that 
Portage-la-Prairie was a " good thing." He returned to Cale- 
donia, sold his business there, and went again to Portage-la- 
Prairie in March 1882, where, in course of one day, he invested 
69,400 dollars in real estate in and near the town. Between that 
time and the date of my visit in September of the same year, he 
had sold portions of his land, realising by the sales upwards of 
100,000 dollars, and he still held a number of lots for which he 
expected to get a long price. I was very fortunate in meeting 
Mr Garland, for he not only enabled me to obtain a mass of in- 
formation in the short time at my disposal, but he contributed to 
the pleasure of my visit by driving me round the town and 
neighbourhood in his buggy a vehicle which is much more 
common in Canada than the gig or dog-cart is at home. 

Writing to the Inverness Courier, a few days after I visited 
Portage-la-Prairie, I said 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 219 

The people of Portage-la-Prairie are taking a somewhat different method of 
building up their town and making it prosperous from that pursued by some of their 
neighbours. What Winnipeg is doing you already know. The methods pursued 
by others are sometimes of the same kind and sometimes not. Dominion City, for 
instance, between Emerson and Winnipeg, has obtained a charter as a city, while as 
yet its whole promise of future greatness consists of a few wooden shanties, a wooden 
railway depot, and a drinking place, which is dignified with the name of saloon. 
Dominion City, however, trusts to a fine name and extensive advertising, and I regret 
to say that too many places in the West with fine sounding names have little else to 
recommend them. Portage-la-Prairie, however, is endeavouring to lay a substantial 
foundation for future prosperity. Two years ago it consisted of only two or three 
houses, now it has a population of between 5000 and 6000. The assessed value of 
property, as ascertained in February and March 1881, was 800,000 dols., in 1882 it 
amounted to 7,400,000 dols., and since the present year's assessment was made the 
place has increased very much. Now, this progress is in its way as striking as that of 
Winnipeg, and it is certainly at least as healthy. In the first place, no discount has 
to be made for a floating population, such as accounts for a great part of the increase 
in size of Winnipeg ; and in the second place, no part of the assessed value of the 
town is based upon the apparent value of vacant buildings. The increase of the town 
is to be accounted for by its natural advantages and the enterprise of its inhabitants. 
A lumber mill of considerable sizotis already in full operation, and a paper mill is so 
near completion that operations will be commenced within a few weeks. Both these 
establishments belong to a gentleman who came to the West a few years ago to teach 
a school at a very small salary, and who, as my informant put it, had not then ten 
dollars to the fore. He is now worth from 50,000 to 100,000 dollars. A large grain 
elevator is approaching completion, and has already a considerable quantity of wheat 
stored in it. A grist mill which will turn out 150 barrels of flour a day is nearly 
ready to begin work the machinery being all on the ground and most of it in the 
building, and a biscuit factory has just begun to work. A company has been formed 
to build and carry on a knitting factory ; most of the building material is on the 
ground, and the building will be proceeded with early next spring. The town forms 
the starting point of the Portage, W T estbourne, and North Western Railway, which 
already runs as far as the town of Gladstone, and is being rapidly pushed forward. 
This railway will, when completed, open up one of the richest districts in the North- 
West, and Portage-la-Prairie is preparing to make itself the centre of the trade of 
that district. Next year is bound to see a large increase in the population of the 
town (the paper-mill alone will employ seventy hands to commence with), and yet 
not only is there no speculative building of dwelling-houses, but no sufficient accom- 
modation has yet been provided for the workmen who must necessarily be employed 
in the various establishments approaching completion. 

One of the largest American Railway Corporations has recognised the growing 
importance of the town by offering, if a charter can be obtained, to construct and 
work a railway connecting it directly with Emerson, near the International boundary, 
and so with the railway system of the United States, in this way avoiding the long detour 
round by Winnipeg. But such a line would tap the traffic of the Canadian Pacific 
Line, and the granting of such a charter would be an infringement of the monopoly of 
the Syndicate building that line. The people of Portage, however, talk of an act of 
the local Legislature, authorising the construction of the line, the time for vetoing 
which has expired. This subject is one, however, upon which no one seemed 



THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

to be able or willing to give any definite information, even the Speaker of the 
Manitoba Legislatnre, to whom I spoke on the subject, not knowing how the matter 
stood. Should such a line be constructed, and it would be an inexpensive one to 
construct, an immense impetus would be given to the prosperity of Portage-la- rrairie, 
and it would probably for a time that is until the completion of the Canadian 
Pacific Line from Mattawa to Thunder Bayhave the effect of making Portage the 
resting-place of a large portion of the floating population which now finds its way to 
Winnipeg. 

My stay in Portage was short but enjoyable. When I left 
my friend Mr Martin, in Winnipeg, I understood him to say that 
Mr Garland would take me to the top of the Hill and show me 
the country. When I stepped off the railway carriage on to the 
platform at Portage, I looked about for the Hill, but I saw no 
land so high as the platform itself, which was about four feet 
above the level of the rails. After driving all through and round 
about the town, down to a brick field, walking through the lumber 
mill, biscuit factory, and the unfinished grist and paper mills, Mr 
Garland proposed we should go to the top of the Elevator- -from 
70 to 90 feet high, I would think to have a look at the country. 
From this point of vantage on a clear day the south end of Lake 
Manitoba, forty miles away, can be seen. After a stiff climb up 
the narrow stairs and many raps (to me) against low-set rafters, 
we reached the top. To say the prospect was beautiful might be 
misleading, and yet it had a beauty all its own. There, for forty 
miles on every side as far as the eye could reach, lay the prairie, 
its general appearance being that of flatness, and yet with rolling 
hillocks like a sea suddenly arrested and turned into dry land 
before its waves had time to subside. 

I had now reached the furthest point westwards to which the 
time I had allowed myself would permit me to go, and after 
spending a very pleasant and instructive day, I returned to 
Winnipeg, and from thence to Toronto, doing the whole distance 
by ra il the time occupied on the journey being from the after- 
noon of Tuesday to the afternoon of the following Friday, travel- 
ling continuously day and night. After a few days spent in 
Toronto I went to Ottawa, the capital of the Dominion, a com- 
paratively small, and, apart from its political position, unimportant 
town. While there I made the acquaintance of Mr A. M. Burgess, 
a young Highlander, who had then, at the age of little more than 
thirty, and after only a few years service of the Canadian Govern- 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 221 

ment, and these years principally under the political opponents of 
the party who had appointed him, attained to the important 
office of Permanent Secretary of the Interior Department, and 
who has since then, and while still under 35 years of age, been pro- 
moted by his political opponents, if a civil servant of his rank can 
be said to belong to any political party, to the position of Deputy- 
Minister of the Interior of the Dominion of Canada, a position of 
responsibility and power to which so young a public servant was 
never before appointed in the Dominion. 

With Mr Burgess I went through and around the Canadian 
Houses of Parliament and the public offices connected therewith. 
The surroundings of the Canadian member of Parliament, while 
attending to his legislative duties, are comfortable, not to say 
luxurious; and the situation of the Parliament Buildings is, so far 
as the natural beauty of the site is concerned, one of the finest in 
the Dominion. The Legislative Chambers are, however, already 
too small, and the architect does not seem to have contemplated the 
growth of the two representative bodies which must necessarily 
follow upon the settlement and organisation of the enormous 
territory which Canada has acquired in the North-West. 

The Parliament Buildings stand on the top of a hill of 
moderate size, which is ascended by a gentle slope from the city, 
but which presents to the River Ottawa, flowing at its foot on the 
other side, a precipitous front. Here art has been called in to 
soften Nature's rugged face. The steep rocky face fronting the 
Ottawa river has been planted with trees and shrubs at every 
point where a hold could be obtained for their roots, so that 
while the native grandeur of the site has not been detracted from, 
its immediate surroundings have been softened and beautified. 

While going through the Government Buildings I was intro- 
duced to Mr Lowe, of the Department of Agriculture, who had 
just returned from visiting his farm. It may interest farmers in 
this snug little Island to know that Mr Lowe's farm known as 
" The Lowe Farm " is situated near the town of Morris, Mani- 
toba, so that when Mr Lowe wished to visit his farm, he had, and 
will have, until the Canadian Pacific Railway runs from Ottawa to 
Thunder Bay, to travel a distance of close on two thousand miles, 
a journey occupying as nearly as may be four days and three 
nights' continuous travelling. That is if he wishes to travel by 



222 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

rail. If he chooses to go by the Lakes he may decrease the dis- 
tance, while he will increase the time. But then Mr Lowe's farm 
is a somewhat large one, and worth going a pretty long way to 
see. Its extent is 18,000 acres, or rather more than 28 square 
miles. In course of my conversation with Mr Lowe, he spoke 
with justifiable pride of the achievements of his steam travelling 
plough a new one. The original inventor had failed in working 
out his idea, but another had taken it up, and worked it out success- 
fully, and Mr Lowe was one of the first to make use of the per- 
fected invention. The plough travels at the rate of two miles an 
hour, turns over ten (I think) furrows at a time, and, while passing 
over the ground, not only turns over and cuts the turf, but sows 
the seed and harrows and rolls the ground. All this is done in 
one journey, and thirty acres are treated in this way daily by the 
one plough. For a farm of the size of the Lowe Farm, one 
plough, even with this capacity for work, would not go far. If 
ever Mr Lowe were to plough up his whole farm, even this 
" Polyglot " plough would take something like two years to do 
the work, working all the year round, from Monday to Saturday, 
at the rate of thirty acres a day. Mr Lowe had hitherto, how- 
ever, cropped only a portion of his land, but the result was so 
eminently satisfactory that he meant to increase the quantity the 
following year. In examining the crop of oats which had just 
been reaped, he found the stalk between 5 ft. 6 in. and 6 ft. high, 
while the leaf of each stalk, measured by rule, was one and one- 
sixteenth inch across. There were in many cases fourteen stalks 
to one seed, and an average of eighty grains on one stalk. This is 
the sort of crop that the virgin soil of the Red River Valley pro- 
duces in a good season. The pity is that all seasons are not 
good. 

Before leaving Ottawa, I had the pleasure of making the 
acquaintance of Mr Alexander, then Speaker of the Manitoba 
Legislature, who was in the Capital on the business of the Pro- 
vince. Mr Alexander was very much interested in the Mani- 
toban Land Question, for Manitoba has a land question already. 
When the Dominion Government took over the North-West 
.territory, large tracts of land were set apart as Indian Reserves, 
as Hudson Bay Company's Lands, and as School Lands. Then 
came the Syndicate who undertook to build the Canadian Pacific 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 223 

Railway, and they obtained as part of their price a large grant 
of land on either side of the Railway. Up to this point nobody 
complained. But then in the wake of the Railway Company 
came land speculators, singly and in companies, from all parts 
of the world, who, finding the Dominion Government willing 
to sell land on easy terms as to money, provided certain con- 
ditions as to residence or colonisation were fulfilled, obtained 
conditional grants of whole sections of the best land in the terri- 
tory. In this way hundreds of thousands of acres of land were 
tied up in the hands of strangers whose only interest was to 
make profit by a. re-sale, while the settler who, accepting the invi- 
tation of the Government, came to settle on a free homestead, had 
to move further on, and make his selection where he would find 
land which had not been given away to speculators in London 
or Edinburgh. The hardship to the settler was not the only 
thing, however. Settlers in the neighbourhood of the lands so 
granted away found the progress of the district retarded, and its 
ultimate success endangered by the compulsory prevention of 
settlement, while the Dominion and the Province lost many 
settlers, who, finding that in Dakota, over the International 
boundary, land could be had without all this trouble, crossed 
over, became citizens of the United States, and obtained a home- 
stead without difficulty. 

It so happened that one of the instalments of the price 
payable by the Land and Colonisation Companies for their lands 
in the North- West, fell due on the day before my arrival in 
Ottawa, and a large number had failed to pay. The universal 
desire in Manitoba seemed to be that these Companies should not 
get a second chance, but that having failed to pay, the forfeiture 
clause in their contracts should be enforced, and pressure was 
evidently being brought to bear on the Government with this 
object. What the result was I cannot say. It would be well, 
however, for persons on this side, who think of investing in shares 
of a Canadian Land or Colonisation Company, to ascertain the 
exact terms of the Company's contract with the Government. 
Failure to pay an instalment may infer a forfeiture, not only of 
the land grant, but of all sums already paid. Another frequent 
stipulation in Government contracts with these companies is that 
on failure to colonise within five years, the land shall revert to 



224 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE 

the Government, and I have little doubt, from the temper in 
which the people of the North-West have taken up this question, 
that they will compel the Government to enforce this stipulation 
rigidly when the times comes, so that the bona-fide settler may 
not be excluded by the mere land speculator. Companies or in- 
dividuals who have entered into contracts for the purchase of 
lands from the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, run no such 
risk of forfeiture, but then they pay a much higher price for their 
lands usually at least double the price of Government land. 

A day or two spent pleasantly in Montreal, where I had the 
pleasure of making the acquaintance of Mr D. Macmaster, Q.C., 
M.P. for the County of Glengarry, a rising young member of the 
Canadian Bar, who, I believe, will ere long take a high position 
in Canadian politics ; of Mr Thomas White, M.P., Editor of 
the Montreal Gazette, a gentleman of considerable ability, of 
genial manners, and withal a keen politician, who was thrice 
beaten by majorities of seven, five, and three respectively 
before he succeeded in winning his present seat ; and, last, though 
by no means least, of Mr Richard White, of the Montreal Gazette, 
brother of the M.P., who did much to make things pleasant for 
me, and wound up by taking me to see my first Lacrosse match. 
One person I missed, much to my regret, both on this occasion 
and when I returned from New York a week later Mr John 
Macdonald, Accountant, a native of our Scottish Highlands. 
After my return I learned that Mr Macdonald had called for me, 
only to find that I had left for home the previous evening. 

From Montreal to New York was a night's journey. In 
New York I met Mr Duncan Macgregor Crerar, of whom I had 
heard long before from the Editor of the Celtic Magazine. With 
Mr Crerar I soon felt at home, and before I had been with him 
many hours I looked upon and talked to him as an old friend. 
A Scotchman, and better still, a Highlander, Mr Crerar, through 
all the ups and downs of life, has never lost his native simplicity 
of character and warmth of heart. He made my stay in New 
York exceedingly pleasant. Of him I say no more than that our 
friendship did not cease when I left New York, but has been con- 
tinued until now, and I trust will long continue. Through 
Mr Crerar I made the acquaintance of Mr John S. Kennedy, 
banker, New York, one of the Syndicate who undertook the 



THROUGH CANADA AND THE STATES. 225 

construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and like several 
other members of that body, a Scotchman, and a successful one. 
In Mr Kennedy, Scotchmen in New York find a generous 
friend, and to those who are willing to help themselves he is 
always ready to give a helping hand. I had a very interesting 
conversation with Mr Kennedy, on the subject of the Canadian 
Pacific Railway, and the threatened " tapping" lines in the North- 
West, in course of which he said that if the Company were re- 
lieved of their obligation to construct a Railway along the north 
shore of Lake Superior, they would at once give up their mono- 
poly in the North-West. Another Scotchman, whom I met in 
New York, was Mr John H. Strahan, a Scotch lawyer, who, a 
good many years ago, went to the Empire City, studied American 
Law, and is now in the front rank of his profession. Before I 
left New York, Mr Strahan drove me through the Central Park, 
and round a large part of the outskirts of the city, but New York 
has become so familiar to readers on this side of the Atlantic, that 
it is unnecessary to attempt a description of it, or of its magnificent 
Park. 

Another day in Montreal, and a pleasant evening to wind up 
with in the house of my friend Mr Burns. A journey on the night 
express to Quebec, and in the morning, five minutes after the 
tender put us on board, the Allan Mail Liner " Circassian" steamed 
down the Saint Lawrence. An uneventful voyage of ten days 
across the Atlantic ; a rapid run from Liverpool to Inverness, 
and I found, when I had leisure to make the calculation, that in 
my two months' holiday I had travelled over eleven thousand six 
hundred miles. 

Impressions of America ! If by impressions you mean 
opinions, I had no time to form any. I had only time to see, 
and what I saw I have told. 

KENNETH MACDONALD. 



FOUR PAGES extra are given this month to enable us to 
present our constituents with a full report of the speeches delivered 
at the Annual Dinner of the Gaelic Society of Inverness last 
month without encroaching too far on our usual space. 

P 



226 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

THE PROPOSED "SCOTTISH HIGHLANDER." 

THE following are two of many gratifying letters received from 
influential gentlemen who take an interest in the present con- 
dition of the Highland people : 

5 CLARGES STREET, 
LONDON, W., nth February 1884. 

MY DEAR SIR, In the present highly critical times as concerns Highland 
views, aims, and aspirations, I am glad to see that one so intimately acquainted with 
them, and who is held in such favour and confidence by the people, proposes estab- 
lishing a newspaper specially devoted to their interests. I know no one so well 
adapted to step to the front, or more deserving of every support in the important 
matters to be dealt with. 

This I say, while with pleasure recognising to the fullest the support and that 
a growing one now given to these matters by several existing newspapers. Yours 
faithfully, C. FRASER-MACKINTOSH. 

ALEX. MACKENZIE, Esq. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

HEREFORD, 5th February 1884. 

DEAR SIR, I am delighted to hear that a people's paper is likely to appear in In- 
verness, under the banner of the "Scottish Highlander." I trust that Highlanders 
generally, throughout Great Britain and the Colonies, shall rally round it, and make it 
a success. The want of such a paper is felt at home and abroad. Within the last three 
months numerous representations have been made to me by Highlanders, in Scotland 
and England, of the necessity of establishing a publication devoted to the wants, require- 
ments, and interests of the Highland people, the columns of which would always be 
open to them for exposing their grievances, advocating their rights, and demanding 
redress for oppressive wrongs. A general complaint pervaded these communications, of 
the partiality of the Northern Press, with one or two honourable exceptions, in discus- 
sing questions bearing upon the interests of the people, and in the way Editors treated 
communications sent them, making it an urgent necessity to establish a people's paper 
for the people, as the best means by which they could give free expression to their own 
ideas upon the circumstances by which they are surrounded. 

There is no doubt of the truth of these statements. There can be as little doubt 
of the urgent necessity of a weekly paper being established as early as possible. 

My reply to my correspondents was, that I was ready to assist whenever a suffi- 
cient number of Highlanders combined to make the matter feasible, and certain of 
success, and I take this opportunity of appealing to all Highlanders to combine, and 
subscribe to have a publication of their own, devoted to their interests and their as- 
pirations. The want of it being so much felt, and so widely acknowledged, leads me 
to think that all real Highlanders have, at least, come to the conclusion that combina- 
tion amongst themselves is the only way to success, and that shoulder to shoulder is 
the only mode of attaining the desired end, and of securing the object we all have in 
view the amelioration of the condition of the people. Yours very faithfully, 

JOHN MACKAY, 



AN AWKWARD MARCH. 227 

The Perthshire Constitutional, the county Conservative paper, in a review of the 
Celtic Magazine for February, says: "Messrs Mackenzie, we notice, are to start a 
newspaper, to be called the 'Scottish Highlander.' Few men, if any, are better 
qualified than the editor to conduct a paper treating of the ' Language, Literature, 
and Traditions' of his race; and we hope that, whilst vigorously urging the real rights 
of the crofter, he will, with the common-sense and the patriotism which he possesses, 
avoid theories which, under specious names, lead to Socialism. If so, we predict a 
great success to his paper." 

The Christian Leader, referring to the same subject, says: "A proposal is 
being urged upon Mr Alexander Mackenzie, F.S.A. Scot., of Inverness, to undertake 
the editing and publication of a weekly journal to be called the ' Scottish Highlander;' 
and we are glad to hear that the scheme is taking practical shape. No man is better 
qualified than the editor of the Celtic Magazine to produce a newspaper thoroughly 
representative of the Highlands, or more likely to further the interests of the High- 
land population." 



AN AWKWARD MARCH. - 

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL JAMES FERGUSON was one of the most 
distinguished officers under the great Duke of Marlborough, and 
was remarkable for the readiness with which he could find an 
expedient, even in the most difficult and adverse circumstances. 
There is a good example of this faculty of his given in a foot- 
note in the History of the House and Clan of Mackay. While the 
British army were in Flanders, they had a large number of 
prisoners on their hands, whom it was desirable to get rid of as 
soon as possible. Accordingly, orders were given to conduct 
them to a place several miles away from the encampment, 
but as their number was so great, and as only a very few men 
could be spared to guard them, considerable hesitancy was ex- 
perienced before an officer volunteered to command the small 
party to be sent in charge for fear the prisoners might overpower 
them. Ferguson, however, then a major, accepted the responsi- 
bility; the whole camp turned out to witness the departure of the 
party, and to see how he would deal with his troublesome 
charge. Ferguson proved equal to the occasion. He drew up 
his prisoners in line, and sent a serjeant along behind them, 
with orders to cut ttie suspenders of each man's trousers. 
These garments began to drop, a misfortune which could 
only be obviated by each prisoner using one hand at 
least to hold them up. The ingenious Major then put his com- 
pany in order, gave the command to march, and in this guise 
set off, amidst the mingled admiration and amusement of 
the spectators. The expedient proved quite successful. With one 
or both hands holding up his breeches, no prisoner could do any 
mischief, and, on the other hand, if he let them go they would 
get entangled about his ankles, and render him unable to move. 
Thus the Major got to his destination without the loss of a single 
prisoner. H. R. M. 



228 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

THE LAST SABBATH IN STRATHNAVER BEFORE THE 

BURNINGS. 
By ANNIE MACKAY. 

'Twas not the beacon light of war, 

Nor yet the " slogan " cry, 
That chilled each heart, and blanched each cheek, 

In the country of Mackay, 
And made them march with weary feet, 

As men condemned to die. 

Ah ! had it been their country's foe 

That they were called to brave, 
How loudly would the piobrachd sound, 

How proud their " bratach " wave ; 
How joyfully each man would march, 

Tho' marching to his grave. 

No ! 'Twas a cruel, sad behest, 

An alien chiefs command, 
Depriving them of house and home, 

Their country and their land ; 
Dealing a death-blow at their hearts, 

Binding the "strong right hand." 

Slowly and sadly, down the glen 

They took their weary way, 
The sun was shining overhead 

Upon that sweet spring day, 
And earth was throbbing with the life 

Of the great glad month of May. 

The deer were browsing on the hills, 

And looked with wondering eye ; 
The birds were singing their songs of praise, 

The smoke curled to the sky, 
And the river added its gentle voice 

To nature's melody. 

No human voice disturbed the calm, 

No answering smile was there, 
For men and women walked along, 

Mute pictures of despair ; 
This was the last sad Sabbath they 

Would join in praise and prayer. 

And men were there whose brows still bore 

The trace of many scars, 
Who oft their vigils kept with death 

Beneath the midnight stars, 
Where'er their country needed men, 

Brave men to fight her wars. 



STRATHNAVER BEFORE THE BURNINGS. 229 

And grey-haired women tall and strong, 

Erect and full of grace, 
Meet mothers of a noble clan, 

A brave and stalwart race, 
And many a maiden young and fair, 

With pallid, tear-stained face. 

They met upon the river's brink, 

By the church so old and grey, 
They could not sit within its walls 

Upon this sunny day ; 
The Heavens above would be their dome, 

And hear what they would say. 

The preacher stood upon a bank, 

His face was pale and thin, 
And, as he looked upon his flock, 

His eyes with tears were dim, 
And they awhile forgot their grief, 

And fondly looked at him. 

His text : " Be faithful unto death, 

And I will give to thee 
A crown of life that will endure 

To all eternity." 
And he pleaded God's dear promises, 

So rich, so full, so free ; 

Then said " Ah friends, an evil day 

Has come upon our Glen, 
Now sheep and deer are held of more 

Account than living men ; 
It is a lawless law that yet 

All nations will condemn. 

" I would not be a belted knight, 

Nor yet a wealthy lord, 
Nor would I, for a coronet, 

Have said the fatal word 
That made a devastation worse 

Than famine, fire, or sword. 

" The path before each one of us 

Is long, and dark, and steep ; 
I go away a shepherd lone, 

Without a flock to keep, 
And ye without a shepherd go, 

My well beloved sheep. 



THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

" But God our Father will not part 

With one of us, I know, 
Though in the cold wide world our feet 

May wander to and fro ; 
If we like children cling to Him, 
With us He'll ever go. 

" Farewell my people, fare ye well, 

We part to meet no more, 
Until we meet before the throne, 

On God's eternal shore, 
Where parting will not break the heart. 
Farewell for ever more. " 

He sat upon the low green turf, 
His head with sorrow bowed ; 
Men sobbed upon their father's graves, 
And women wept aloud, 

And there was not a tearless eye 
In that heart-stricken crowd. 

The tune of " Martyrdom" was sung 

By lips with anguish pale, 
And as it rose upon the breeze 

It swelled into a wail, 
And, like a weird death coronach, 

It sounded in the vale : 

"Beannaicht" gu robh.gu siorruidh buan 

Ainm glormhor uasal fein 
Lionadh a ghloir gach uile thir 

Amen agus Amen, " 
And echo lingering on the hills 

Gave back the sad refrain. 

Methinks there never yet was heard 

Such a pathetic cry 
As rose from that dear, hallowed spot 

Unto the deep blue sky, 
'Twas the death wail of a broken clan 

The noble clan Mackay. 

And ere another Sabbath came, 

The people were no more 
Within their Glens, but they were strewn 

Like wreck upon the shore, 
And the smoke of each burning home ascends 

To heaven for ever more. 

[The text given and Psalm sung are all as it happened, and in a short time after 
a crow built her nest in the deserted church.] 



231 



THE GAELIC SOCIETY OF INVERNESS TWELFTH 
ANNUAL DINNER. 



ON the evening of the 2gth of January, the usual annual dinner of the Gaelic Society 
was held in the Caledonian Hotel, when about fifty members and their friends sat 
down to an excellently served dinner, under the presidency of Henry Cockburn 
Macandrew, Esq., Provost of Inverness. The Chairman was supported right and 
left by Captain O'Sullivan, Adjutant of the I.A.V.; Councillor Alexander Ross, 
William Mackay, solicitor ; Hugh Rose, solicitor ; Robert Grant, of Macdougall and 
Go's. ; Dr F. M. Mackenzie, Dr Ogilvie Grant, Bailie Mackay, and William Morrison, 
Rector, Dingwall Academy. The Croupiers were Alexander Mackenzie, Editor of the 
Celtic Magazine: and Alexander Macbain, M.A., Rector, Raining's School, Inverness. 
Among the general company were Colin Chisholm, Namur Cottage ; James Barron, 
Ness Bank; Duncan Campbell, Ballifeary ; Dr D. Sinclair Macdonald, James 
Gumming, Allanfearn ; Councillor W. G. Stuart, Councillor James Macbean, John 
Davidson, merchant ; A. K. Findlater, of Macdonald & Mackintosh ; Alexander 
Mactavish, of Mactavish & Mackintosh; John Maedonald, merchant, Exchange; 
Eraser Campbell, draper ; John Whyte, librarian ; William Gunn, draper ; James 
Mackintosh, ironmonger; Alex. Macgregor, solicitor; Duncan Chisholm, coal- 
merchant ; Alex. Ranaldson Macraild, writer ; D. Maclennan, commission agent ; 
D. K. Clark, of the Courier; Hector R. Mackenzie, Town-Clerk's Office; William 
Mackenzie, Secretary of the Society; Alex. Ross, of the Chronicle; William 
Cameron, The Castle ; Mr Macdonald, do. ; F. Mackenzie, Mr Menzies, Blarich, 
Sutherlandshire ; D. Nairne, &c. 

Apologies for inability to attend were read by the Secretary from the following : 
Sir Kenneth S. Mackenzie of Gairloch, Bart.; Cluny Macpherson of Cluny, C.B. ; John 
Mackay of Hereford ; Mackintosh of Mackintosh, A. R. Mackenzie, yr. of Kintail ; 
John Mackay of Hernesdale ; W. M'K. Bannatyne, Bridge of Allan ; D. Forbes of 
Culloden ; Thomas O'Hara, Portarlington ; Field-Marshal Sir Patrick Grant, F. 
Macdonald, Druidaig ; &c. 

The Earl of Dunmore, Chief of the Society, writing from Algiers, said 

Dear Sir, I beg to express, through you, my regret to the members of our 
Society at being unable to take the chair at this our annual meeting, but, owing unfor- 
tunately to the delicate state of my wife's health, we have been ordered here to Algiers 
for the winter, and as the distance is very great, it has been a matter of impossibility for 
me to get over in time to occupy that chair to which I had the honour last year to be 
appointed. But believe me when I tell you that my heart is with you on this occasion, 
and, although many hundred miles of ocean roll between us, there is no distance, 
however great, that cannot be bridged over by that bond of sympathy that unites the 
hearts of all true Highlanders. And it is thus I would have you think this day ; that, 
although absent in the body, I am with you in the spirit, wishing you every success 
in your great undertaking ; that your efforts may continue to meet with that success 
they so justly deserve, and that the end will be the bringing about the one thing so 
dear to all of us namely, the preservation, in all its purity, of our most beautiful and 
ancient language, its literature, poetry, music, legends, and traditions (cheers) and, 
more than all, the preservation of that feeling of clanship and brotherhood which 
should always exist among Highlanders of all classes high and low, rich and poor 
that feeling which has for ages and centuries existed ; that feeling which has gone 
far towards making our beloved country take the high place she does among the 
nations of the world by reason of her sons being the bravest, staunchest, and most 



232 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

loyal adherents to their Sovereign and the land that gave them birth. (Cheers.) 
With regard to the present state of affairs in the Highlands, it would ill become me 
to make many remarks until after we have the report of the Royal Commission 
(hear, hear) but this I will venture to think that, had the Gaelic tongue been 
taught in the high-class schools as a requisite language for those who reside in Gaelic- 
speaking districts, we should have heard little of discontent, and still less of a Crofters' 
Commission. Surely it must be more desirable to teach a boy his native tongue than 
to cram his brain with Greek mythology and a lot of rubbish that can be of little or 
no use to him in after life. (Applause.) And yet I have often been asked by some 
people what use is there in knowing Gaelic, or, as they facetiously term it in their 
painful ignorance, "That defunct barbarian lingo." (Laughter.) But if we are to 
deplore the non-existence of the Gaelic language amongst some of the landed gentry 
in the Highlands, what condemnation can be too severe for those men of the educated 
classes familiar with the language who have taken advantage of it to feed the flame 
of discontent amongst the ignorant and uneducated by applying the mischievous 
bellows of agitation? (Laughter.) I say the Gaelic language has never been 
put to more unworthy and unpatriotic or wicked use than when it was employed, not 
as a means of tranquilising the poor people by reasoning with them in a spirit of 
pacification and conciliation in their own tongue, but, on the contrary, in urging them 
to rebellion and crime. (Cries of ' ' Rubbish. ") Who are the most guilty, the preachers or 
the disciples ? Let us hope that the year 1884 may be a happier one for all of us in the 
Highlands, and that the seeds of discontent may not have taken deep root in the 
hearts of our people, but that peace, quietness, and plenty may in future take the 
place of restless discontent and poverty ; and that Providence in His goodness may 
see fit to bestow these blessings on our beloved country is, I am sure, the earnest wish 
of all of us. (Cheers.) Wishing the Society, in conclusion, every success. I remain 
yours truly, DUNMORE, Chief of the Society. 

The Chairman, who was warmly received, then proposed " The Queen " in the 
following interesting terms : 

He said, among the many claims to our loyalty which Queen Victoria possesses, 
there are two which I have not seen noticed before, and which, it appears to me, may 
be very appropriately noticed in proposing this toast at a meeting of a Gaelic Society 
in the Town of Inverness. About thirteen hundred years ago a very remarkable and 
interesting event happened in this city, which was then the capital of the Pictish 
kingdom of Albyn. I allude to the visit of St Columba to Brude, the King of the 
Picts, when the Saint persuaded that monarch to embrace Christianity, and formed 
with him that friendship which appears to have lasted while they lived. Now I think 
we have good reason for believing that her Gracious Majesty is of the blood of both 
the principal actors in that memorable scene. We do not know accurately the pedi- 
gree of the Pictish Royal Family, because succession, according to the Pictish law, 
was through females ; the Kings never have the names of their fathers, and they seem 
to have been succeeded, not by their own sons, but by the sons of sisters, who appear 
always to have had foreign husbands. We know, however, that, according to their 
law, there was a regular succession for a very long time. For some time before the 
establishment of the Scottish Monarchy by Kenneth Macalpine there was a period of 
great confusion, but we know that Alpine, Kenneth's father, was the son of a Pictish 
mother, through whom he claimed the throne. From Kenneth the Queen's pedigree 
is clear. I think, then, we have fair historical probability in the statement that the 
Queen is of the blood of the ancient Pictish Royalty, and that she is the descendant, 
as she is the political representative, of the royal race who had their seat at Inverness. 
(Cheers.) As to the other proposition that she is of the blood of Saint Columba, we 
know that about 850 Kenneth Macalpine re-established the Columban Church in Scot- 
land, that when so doing he gave the primacy to the Abbey of Dunkeld which he 
there founded, and that he then removed to Dunkeld the relics of Saint Columba. I 



THE GAELIC SOCIETY OF INVERNESS. 233 

cannot give you the pedigree of the Abbot to whom the government of the Abbacy of 
Dunkeld and the Primacy of the Scottish Church at this time was given, but we know 
that the law of succession in the early Celtic Abbacies was that the Abbot was always 
appointed from the family of the Saint if there was any person of the family qualified. 
At this time, and for 100 years after, there were Abbots of Saint Columba's family in 
the Monastery at lona and in other Monasteries of his foundation, and we may fairly 
presume that on the primacy of his church Kenneth would have chosen an Abbot of 
the Saint's family. In the course of time what happened in other Celtic Monasteries 
happened at Dunkeld. The Abbots abandoned the practice of celibacy, the office 
became hereditary in their family, and ultimately the Abbots ceased to be priests and 
lay lords. In the time of Malcolm, the Second Crinan, Abbot of Dunkeld, was a very 
powerful man. He married the daughter of Malcolm, and the fruit of the marriage 
was "the gracious" Duncan, father of Malcolm Canmore, and ancestor of the Queen. 
(Cheers.) Here again I say that there is fair historical probability that the Queen 
is of the blood of Saint Columba, and that she is thus a descendant of Niall of the 
nine hostages who was supreme King of Ireland in the end of the fourth century. 
This is truly a good and Royal Celtic ancestry, and I now give you the health of 
Queen Victoria, the descendant of the Royal race who ruled at Inverness, and the 
representative of the Royal Saint and bard who converted our ancestors. (Loud and 
continued cheers.) 

After similar honours were paid to the Prince and Princess of Wales and the 
other members of the Royal Family, 

Mr William Mackay, solicitor, proposed the "Navy, Army, and Auxiliary Forces. " 
He said This toast is usually given from the chair, but as our Chairman this evening 
is a distinguished officer in the citizen army, I have been done the honour of being 
asked to propose- it. (Cheers.) It is with great pleasure I do so, although I 
feel I am able to do but scant justice to my glorious theme. Fortunately for me, 
however, the subject is one not requiring words of eloquence to commend it to you, 
for, no matter where Highlanders meet, they loyally remember the guardians of their 
native land. (Applause.) Now, gentlemen, although in the far off olden time 
western waves were ploughed by the fleets of the Lords of the Isles and other Island 
chiefs, we Highlanders cannot as a race boast of any great exploits on the ocean, and 
we have not to any appreciable extent contributed to the glorious history of the British 
navy. That history, we must confess, is the special property of the Saxon, who, of 
all nations, makes the best and bravest sea-soldier. But in this matter we have 
learned to rejoice in the Saxon's triumphs, and to look back with feelings of pride 
and pleasure on a long roll of naval victories in which we took little or no part. 
(Cheers. ) In regard to the army we are on a different footing, for our forefathers 
were naturally men of war, and Highland soldiers have added lustre to British arms 
in all quarters of the globe. (Applause. ) The author of a recent pamphlet has ques- 
tioned the military ardour of the old Highlander, and he more than insinuates that 
the "hardy and intrepid race," whom the great Pitt and his successors called forth 
from our Northern glens, were forced, in press-gang fashion, into the ranks of the 
British army. It is true that, about the commencement of the present century, Celts 
as well as Saxons were, under the Army Reserve Act, subject to a kind of conscrip- 
tion for home service, and it may also be true that it occasionally happened in the 
past, as it sometimes happens now, that a man found himself in possession of the 
King's shilling who did not want to fight, but it is as absurd as it is contrary to fact to 
say that the thousands of clansmen who fought Britain's battles from Fontenoy to 



234 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Waterloo were impelled by any force stronger than the freedom of their own will. 
(Applause.) No, gentlemen. It was long ago said of Highlanders that they could be 
led, but not driven ; and we may safely assume that driven Highlanders could no 
more have swept the slopes of Killiecrankie, or climbed the heights of Abraham, or, 
as Sir Colin Campbell's thin red line, turned the Russian horse at Balaclava, than 
could the unwilling wretches who are at this moment goaded on by Egyptian officers 
to meet the False Prophet of the Soudan. (Hear, hear.) The fact is that, although 
Highlanders now find it pays better to follow the more peaceful pursuits of life, down 
to the beginning of this century they were essentially a fighting people. I need not 
tell you of their own internecine feuds in the olden times, or how, when they could 
not fight at home, they joined the ranks of Gustavus Adolphus, or of the Kings of 
France ; but I may mention that, on recently going over certain Church records of 
the seventeenth century, I was simply astonished at the frequent mention therein 
made of Highland soldiers, who are described as being absent in France and in 
Germany, and some of them even in Russia. We cannot conceive that these men left 
their native land perforce, or under any other influence than that of love for war. 
(Hear.) Permit me, before I sit down, to refer in one word to the proposal now 
made to do away with the graceful feather bcnnet of our Highland soldiers. It is not 
what may be called an original Highland head-dress. It was worn first by the old 
Fraser Regiment, and it has since continued the distinguishing head-dress of the 
Highland regiments, outside the tartan. (Hear, hear.) I would suggest that the 
Gaelic Society take up this question as they did the question of the tartans. (Cheers.) 
I trust you will join in resisting the proposal to the utmost (applause) and although 
it does seem hopeless that we shall ever be able to teach the War Authorities the 
difference between one tartan and another, or between our martial feathers and a 
policeman's helmet, if we are firm in our present opposition, I am satisfied that our 
reward will be the same success that three years ago crowned our efforts on behalf 
of the tartan. (Applause.) But I must conclude, and ask you to drink, with all 
enthusiasm, to the Navy, Army, and Reserve Forces. (Loud cheers.) 

Captain O'Sullivan replied for the Army. He said I don't think the Gaels have 
been cured of their warlike propensities yet. (Cheers.) I am sorry to see another 
of those tailoring changes being attempted by the Government I refer to the High- 
land feathered bonnet and with all due respect to my superior officers, I am of 
opinion that the War Office have many other more important matters to take up their 
time with than the turning of a military button or the changing of a regimental head- 
dress. (Hear.) It was a most serviceable, and, in the end, an inexpensive one. It was 
sometimes said that Germans and other foreigners laughed at the dress of the 
British soldier ; but on the occasion of a review at Aldershot I remember a German 
lady exclaiming, on seeing the Scottish regiments approach "Why not dress the 
whole of your infantry like that?" And there was no doubt that for a soldier's dress 
nothing was more perfect on parade than the Highland garb. (Applause. ) 

Dr Ogilvie Grant, Surgeon to the Naval Reserve, replied for the Navy; and 
Major Ross I.A.V., replied for the Auxiliary Forces. 

At this stage, Mr William Mackenzie, the Secretary, read the annual report, 
which reviewed the work performed by the Society during last year work which was 
of an exceedingly useful character, and eminently calculated to advance the objects for 
the promotion of which the Society was formed. During the year the Society had 
initiated a movement to get a Civil List pension conferred on Mrs Mary Mackellar, 
the Bard of the Society (cheers) and had gone thoroughly into the proposal to 



THE GAELIC SOCIETY OF INVERNESS. 235 

acknowledge Professor Blackie's great services to Celtic language and literature 
(applause) two movements which the Society hope to see crowned with success. 
(Cheers.) It is proposed that the acknowledgment of Professor Blackie's services 
should take the form of a bust or portrait, with Blackie bursaries, in connection with 
the Celtic Chair in the University of Edinburgh. (Hear, hear.) There is at present 
no one receiving a pension from the Civil List for Gaelic literature, and the Society 
considered that Mrs Mackellar had very high claims. (Applause.) This view had 
been concurred in by many other societies, who have signed a memorial, promoted by 
the Inverness Society, to the First Lord of the Treasury. Many influential gentle- 
men had also, as individuals, signed it, including all the members of the Royal 
Commission, except Lord Napier. Money for the Blackie testimonial was now in course 
of being received by Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, M.P., hon. treasurer to the fund, and 
by the Secretary of the Society. During the year the membership of the Society had 
been considerably thinned by death, but the acquisition of fresh members had more 
than counterbalanced the loss in this way, the number of new members enrolled dur- 
ing the year being 25. Financially the position of the Society was highly satisfac- 
tory. The income during the year, including the balance from last year, was 88 
l8s. 8d., while the money paid out amounted to 59. us. 8d., leaving a balance of 
29. 75. to be carried to next account. (Applause. ) 

The Chairman next proposed " Success to the Gaelic Society" of Inverness, and 
said I am sure you have all been gratified to learn, from the report which the Secre- 
tary has just read, that this Society is still flourishing. (Cheers.) I regret exceed- 
ingly that the chair is not occupied on this occasion by Lord Dunmore, whose 
presence would have been so acceptable to us all. He is a nobleman whose heart 
is in the Highlands', and who lives, as much as his wife's health will allow, among 
and with his people. In wishing success to this Society, there are various aspects of 
its usefulness which may be referred to and commended. As Lord Dunmore has said, 
such a Society is of great advantage in preserving the language, the literature, and the 
traditions of the Gael. I have remarked more than once on previous occasions that 
unless we can also preserve the Gaelic people we are not doing much. (Loud 
cheers. ) But if we try to preserve the Gaelic people we must try to preserve them 
with the language, the traditions, and the habits which made them what they are. 
(Cheers.) I take it broadly that the objects of this Society are to preserve among us 
all those elements in the life of the past which were good and beautiful. We are 
inclined to look for a golden age in the past. I may be wrong in so thinking, but I 
cannot help thinking that there was a great deal that was more beautiful and joyous 
in the life of the past than in the life of the present (hear, hear) - and there are two 
aspects of that life on which I will venture to dwell for a few moments. We are told 
that the Highland people ought not to continue to exist in any great numbers on their 
native soil, because they cannot maintain themselves there otherwise than in poverty. 
Now, I was much struck with a remark which I read lately, and which was to this 
effect, that inasmuch as the earth does not produce very much more than food enough 
for all the people on it, the great majority of the people must always be poor. In 
new countries this evil may be corrected in a town, and so long as the population is 
sparse ; but population is always pressing on the limits of the supply of food, and I 
fear it will always be the case that the great majority will be poor. One of 
the great evils of the present day is, I think, that poverty is coming to be looked on 
as synonymous with misery. Now this is an evil from which, a few generations ago, 
our ancestors were in a great measure free. (Hear, hear.) And this, I think, was 



236 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

due to the habits of frugality which certain circumstances have made part of their 
lives, and to the fact that they were led to value themselves more in other qualities 
than with reference to what they ate and what they drank, and wherewithal they were 
clothed. (Hear, hear.) A few generations ago there was in one aspect very much 
more poverty than there is now ; that is to say, articles in the shape of food and cloth- 
ing, which are now considered necessaries by the poorest, were not then attainable 
even by the well-to-do, but we look in vain in the contemporary records of our 
ancestors for any evidence that poverty was then considered as, in any sense, a 
degradation either by those who endured it or by those above them. (Cheers.) On 
the contrary, I think we have abundance of evidence that life was then more free from 
care than it is now, and that among those who had little choice of food and some- 
times but little enough of it there was much less care for the morrow than there is 
now. As an illustration of the frugality of our ancestors, I may quote a passage from 
the ancient Irish laws prescribing the kind of food which foster-parents were bound 
to give the children entrusted to them to be fostered. "What are their victuals ? 
Porridge is given to them all ; but the flavouring which goes into it is different, i.e., 
salt butter for the sons of the inferior grades, fresh butter for the sons of chieftains, 
honey for the sons of kings. The food of them all is alike until the end of a year, or 
of three years, viz., salt butter, and afterwards fresh butter, i.e., to the sons of chief- 
tains, and honey to the sons of kings. Porridge made of oatmeal and buttermilk or 
water is given to the sons of feini grades, and a bare sufficiency of it merely, and salt 
butter for flavouring ; porridge made in new milk is given to the sons of the chieftain 
grades, and fresh butter for flavouring, and a full sufficiency is given to them, and 
barley meal upon it ; porridge made in new milk is given to the sons of kings, and 
wheaten meal upon it, and honey for flavouring." Surely what was good enough for 
the sons of kings in the grandest period of our race, might be good enough for the sons 
of peasants now. (Hear, hear.) And if this Society can aid in leading us back to 
the simple life of our ancestors, it will do much to make life happier, and to do away 
with the brooding feeling of discontent with their lot among the poor, which is one 
of the great evils of our time. Another aspect of the life of the past which we have very 
much lost is its joyousness. (Hear, hear. ) We are often told, particularly by the Scotsman, 
that our ancestors were in great misery. No doubt the people who say this believe it, 
but I think the belief springs from the grossness of their own minds (hear, hear) 
which teaches them to think that because people had only the simplest food, and 
sometimes not quite enough of it, and lived in bothies, they must have been miser- 
able. In reading such records of the past as we have, however, the impression left 
on my mind is that life was then a joyous, free, happy life. Take, for instance, that 
most delightful of books, Mrs Grant's " Letters from the Mountains." Mrs Grant was 
not brought up in the Highlands, and when she settled at Laggan, she wrote many 
accounts of her life and of the life of those about her to her friends in the South, and 
the distinct impression they leave on the mind is that in those days Laggan was a sort 
of Arcadia. Roups lasted for a fortnight, weddings for three or four days, and if the 
minister and his wife did not join in the dancing, they were present and encouraged it. 
I was much struck recently with one expression of Mrs Grant in describing her life. 
She says " Haymaking is not merely drying grass ; it is preparing a scene of joyous 
employment and innocent amusement for those whose sports recal to us our gayest and 
happiest days." (Cheers.) That life among the old Celts was one of much enjoy- 
ment we may judge from the following passage in the Irish laws giving the occupa- 
tions of a king : "There are now seven occupations in the corus-law of a king 



THE GAELIC SOCIETY OF INVERNESS. 237 

Sunday for drinking ale, for he is not a lawful chief who does not distribute ale every 
Sunday (laughter) Monday for judgments for the adjustment of the people ; Tues- 
day for chess ; Wednesday seeing greyhounds coursing ; Thursday, the pleasures of 
love ; Friday at horse-racing ; Saturday at giving judgments." But since Mrs Grant's 
time we have had two or three generations of excellent and well-meant clergymen, 
who have lived in the belief, and preached it, and enforced the practice of it, that all 
sports and amusements, music and dancing, and all those modes by which the ex- 
uberance of healthy animal sports finds expression, are sinful. The result is that they 
have killed joy out of the lives of the people (hear, hear) and I believe this is one 
great cause of the discontent with their lot which is now so noticeable a feature among 
the peasantry. (Cheers.) It has even become a burning question, as we see by the 
papers, whether it is lawful to play shinty. (Laughter.) It appears to me that if the 
worthy gentlemen who preach against the game would only join their parishioners in 
playing it, and would encourage this and other similar healthy and innocent amuse- 
ments, as the more robust clergy of the good old times did, the people would be 
happier and the grosser vices less common than they are. (Cheers.) Let us hope 
then that in all its efforts, and especially in its effort to restore the contentment, the 
simplicity, and the joyousness of the life of the past, this Society may continue to 
prosper, and let us drink the toast with full bumpers. (Loud cheers.) 

Mr John Macdonald, Exchange, proposed the " Members of Parliament for the 
Highland Counties and Burghs." He said The toast I have been asked to propose 
is always well received by the Gaelic Society. If it can be true anywhere, it is true 
of us, that Whig and Tory all agree in our meetings. And, I think if this is true of 
Scotland generally, it is most true of the Highlands. There are many things that we 
might expect Parliament to help us in education, for instance. Then there is the 
fishing industry. They might urge the Government to give a grant to aid in the pro- 
secution of this important industry. I think that we might fairly ask them to do some 
thing for us in this way. I am afraid that it is, perhaps, the case that the services of 
Members of Parliament are not appreciated and recompensed by the people as they 
should be. I have lately had the privilege of visiting the House of Commons, and 
it requires that we should see the order ol business there before we can form a full 
estimate of the work of the Members. (Hear, hear.) 

Mr Alex. Macbain, M.A., Raining's School, proposed the " Language and Liter- 
ature of the Gael." He said Patriots of a generation or two ago used to claim for the 
Gaelic language an antiquity coeval and even superior to the Hebrew ; but in the 
present day these days of science and accurate thinking we can claim for the Gaelic, 
on true scientific grounds, antiquity in Europe greater than any of its sister languages, 
and rank equal to the best of them. (Applause.) It is well ascertained now that of 
the so-called Aryan race, the Celts were the first to enter Europe, and of these Celts 
themselves, the Gaelic branch was the first the pioneer of all the civilisation of the 
East. (Hear, hear.) Nor must we think that these early Gaels were savages far 
from it. They were even a civilised people, having homes and families, houses and 
domestic animals, knowledge of metals and agriculture. They had, too, a highly 
organised language a language that then was superior to Latin in inflectional power, 
and superior to Greek in flexibility of structure. For the last two thousand years it 
has not fared so well with our mother tongue. It has been sadly shorn of its inflec- 
tions in the struggle which the European languages entered on in the middle ages to 
get rid of all grammar. Nor have we kept up to the old literary forms of our 
ancestors. The old Gaels must have possessed a vast and important literature. We 



238 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

see that from the Irish. They preserved much of it from the wreck of time through 
their monasteries and men of learning and leisure, and valuable MSS. still exist of 
poems, which, through the ravages of time, have just escaped the epic power and the 
reputation of Homer. Our language here is, however, more popularised and less 
learned. We have but scraps of the old literature and the old inflections ; we are in 
consequence more homely and more near the heart both in language and literature, 
for both are a people's tongue, as opposed to a mere literary instrument. We may 
console ourselves in this matter by the reflection that the English would have been 
the same had it not stolen 29,000 Latin words two-thirds of its vocabulary ! Our 
literature and language are therefore of the people and for the people, and for every 
individual of it. (Hear, hear.) The extent of our literature in such circumstances is 
not great, but its depth is great -it is steeped in the feelings of the people ; it is com- 
posed mostly of songs and elegies and lyrics that gush from a nation's heart, warm and 
instinct with life. (Applause.) It is, therefore, concrete and personal ; laudations of 
persons living, or some dear one recently dead, are found in the language ; these 
laudations and praises are extended also to natural objects a hill, a river, or a vale, 
and their description is entered into with a minuteness and gusto that is quite dis- 
tinctive of the Gael. No language can express better strong emotion ; the passionate 
outburst of the lover or the pathetic wail of the widowed and distressed. We must 
not expect in such a literature Matthew Arnold's "Criticism of Life" to enter very 
much ; we do not claim any philosophical or learned height for Gaelic literature. It 
expresses the feelings, aspirations, and wishes of the people much as Burns' poems do 
those of the Lowland Scotch, rising at times to heights such as Burns attained in his 
" Cottar's Saturday Night" or his " Mary in Heaven," equal to him in the love songs, 
and, I venture to say, superior to him in satiric power. Satire is a special feature of 
Gaelic literature. The prose literature naturally runs into the groove of conversations, 
as popular prose compositions must do ; but the literature in popular tales is something 
to boast of. Campbell's collection of Highland tales is the envy of every nation in 
Europe. They cannot beat us on that point, not even in Germany. (Applause.) 
I cannot but refer to the recent opening of the Celtic Class in Edinburgh. (Cheers.) 
We may congratulate ourselves in the choice made, for, judging from the start 
Professor Mackinnon made in his excellent address, we may have every confidence in 
his success. That speech, which in pamphlet form makes thirty-six pages, and which 
travelled over the whole Celtic ground, ethnologically and philologically, is an ad- 
mirable specimen of accuracy and learning. I do not believe that one error can be 
pointed out in it a new thing almost in Scotland for a man to speak an hour on 
general Celtic subjects, and make no rash assertions. For, if anything, we are too 
inclined not to study our language, our literature, and our history with that care 
which modern science insists on, and without which 'we are laughed at beyond our 
own borders. We have done all that can be done in a popular way. We must now 
submit to scientific treatment, and we shall find our language and literature will stand 
that too. But we are not here in Inverness quite idle in this matter. (Applause.) 
No man has been busier or more successful than the gentleman with whose name 
I have the honour to couple this toast, Mr Alexander Mackenzie of the Celtic Magazine. 
(Cheers) Not to speak of the success and excellence of his histories of several of the 
Highland clans, and of his collections of traditions, the Celtic Magazine is itself a 
monument of his industry and genius. (Applause.) Now in its looth number, 
having thus lived longer than any other previous Gaelic or Celtic periodical, or truly 
Highland paper, it happily augurs the success of his forthcoming paper "The 
Scottish Highlander." (Loud cheers.) 



THE GAELIC SOCIETY OF INVERNESS. 239 

Mr Alexander Mackenzie, Editor of the Celtic Magazine, in reply, said I need 
not tell you that I feel very highly honoured in being asked to respond to this 
important toast ; and especially so, proposed as it has been, by a gentleman like Mr 
Macbain, whose information in the Celtic literary field is very extensive, and who treads 
very closely, in the matter Celtic scholarship, on the heels of the foremost men of the 
day. (Hear, hear.) It is gratifying that we should have, in the Highland capital, 
a man of that stamp. (Applause.) He has the advantage of many men who dabble 
in this question, in his having an intimate knowledge of the classical languages 
Latin, Greek, Sanscrit, and Old Irish, which, I need hardly say, is of immense value 
in pursuing Celtic studies. I am not going to inflict a speech upon you, but referring 
shortly to other matters, I may be allowed to say how pleased I am to see you, sir, 
occupying that chair ; and let me say that I never heard you speaking at a gathering 
of this kind, but I admired the fine Celtic spirit which always pervaded your speeches. 
(Applause.) At the same time, I may be permitted to say that the Society ought to 
feel pleased that perhaps the only peer of the realm who can speak the Gaelic lan- 
guage correctly and fluently, holds the position of present chief of the Society. 
A Member Sir Kenneth speaks Gaelic. 
Mr Mackenzie He is not yet a peer, however. (Laughter.) 

A Member Lord Lovat, the Duke of Athole, the Duke of Argyll 

Mr Mackenzie We will take " him" some other time. (Laughter and applause.) 
Well, I think it is a good thing to have such a man as the Earl of Dunmore as our 
chief, and I am quite satisfied that he will not make the same use of his Gaelic as he 
infers others have been making of their knowledge of it recently in the Highlands 
(laughter) and especially in the Western Isles ; but this is a matter to which I need 
not here further refer. I will not say that I am, in one sense, very sorry that we have 
not his lordship here to-night, because I think we have quite as good- a man in the 
chair as we could possibly wish to have (hear, hear) and one who has done more 
in the Celtic field than most people are aware of. (Applause.) I may tell you in that 
connection that considerable additions have been made to our store of Celtic literature, 
even within the last twelve months. A volume of Gaelic poetry has been issued, since 
our last meeting, by Mr Neil Macleod, a native of Glendale (cheers) where we 
had some good men. Neil's uncle left that famous glen some years ago as a common 
soldier, and has recently retired, with honours, as Major Macleod of the Royal 
Artillery. (Applause. ) I have no hesitation in saying that Neil Macleod's volume 
is about the most correct specimen of Gaelic printed in modern times (hear, hear) 
and not only so, but that the volume, notwithstanding the great discussion which is 
reported to have taken place at a recent meeting of the Celtic Society of Edinburgh 
(laughter) contains sentiments, beautifully and poetically expressed, equal to some of 
the best poets of a bye-gone age. (Applause. ) I had also a very handsome volume of 500 
pages sent me only last week from the City of Toronto, the compositions of a bard 
famous in this country so long ago as 1838 - Evan Maccoll, the " Bard of Loch-Fyne," 
who was described by Hugh Miller, in the Inverness Courier at the time, as "The 
Moore of Highland Song." (Cheers.) Another poet, who started under very dis- 
advantageous circumstances, from Argyle-shire, some years ago for South Australia 
has also issued a volume of poems, printed in Australia. It will thus be seen that 
the field of Celtic literature is expanding ; that the labourers in it are increasing 
at a very rapid rate. (Hear, hear.) I have not included the excellent volume by 
Mary Mackellar, our own Society Bard, as it was published in the previous year. 
We shall soon, if I may be permitted to let let you into a dead secret (laughter) 



240 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

have a new addition to Celtic literature in the town of Inverness, my friend who has 
asked you to drink this toast having a work in the press, which we shall have the 
honour of presenting to the public at no distant date. (Loud applause.) Another 
most important addition to our store of Highland literature, which we are expecting 
soon, and which members of this Society had a hand in preparing, is the forthcoming 
volumes of the evidence taken before the Crofter Royal Commission (laughter) 
and the report of the Commissioners on the present state of the Highlands. (Laugh- 
ter and cheers.) I well believe, sir, that this will prove to be the most important 
addition made to the literature of the Highlands for the last century at least. (Hear, 
hear.) There is a fallacy existing about Celtic literature even in Inverness, which will 
by-and-bye be removed. There are more people taking an interest in that subject in 
the town than the public are aware of. Large numbers now not only read but study 
it carefully ; and they are willing even to pay a good price for the pleasure of perusing 
contributions on the subject, many of which emanate, though in general anonymously, 
from members of the Society that I am now addressing. Kindly reference has been 
made to my own little venture in the Celtic field, the Celtic Magazine. (Cheers.) I 
lay little claim myself to the good which it has admittedly done. Through it I have 
been able, however, to give many writers, among whom are the leading authorities of 
the day, an opportunity of expressing their views on Celtic questions. I have been 
able to present them, as it were, with a focus, and thus we are together able to show 
the world that there is a Celtic literature and some little ability in our midst. (Applause. ) 
The little craft, you will be glad to hear, is at present in excellent order, and there is 
not the slightest fear of its usefulness being in any way impaired (hear, hear) for 
it was never so able to weather the storm as at the present moment. (Laughter and 
applause.) The Celtic Magazine is now longer in existence than any Celtic 
publication ever published in this country, and I can assure you that there is not the 
slightest fear of any mishap or rocks ahead at present. (Laughter and applause.) I 
am very much obliged to you for the kind way in which you have responded to the 
toast of Celtic Literature, as well as for your reception of the name of the Celtic 
Magazine and the looming "Scottish Highlander," which I hope to succeed in 
making a worthy labourer in a congenial field not very far removed from that of his 
elder brother. (Loud cheers.) 

Councillor Alex. Ross proposed the Agricultural and Commercial Interests of 
the Highlands, and the toast was acknowledged by Mr Robert Grant of the Royal 
Tartan Warehouse. 

Mr John Whyte, Librarian, proposed Kindred Societies, and mentioned the great 
advantages to be derived from being associated with Societies such as the Field 
Club, the Literary Institute, and the Mutual Improvement Society. Many old Inver- 
ness boys, who had distinguished themselves 'n afterlife in their several spheres, had 
got their early training at similar Societies. The toast was coupled with the name of 
Mr Findlater, President of the_ Mutual Improvement Society, who made a very 
appropriate reply. 

Mr Duncan Campbell, of the Chronicle, proposed Highland Education; to which 

Mr Wm. Morrison, Dingwall Academy, who was well received, replied as 
follows : 

Having adverted to that clause of the constitution of the Society which set forth as 
one of its aims the vindication of the rights and character of the Scottish Highlander, 
he proceeded I think the latter might safely be left to the testimony of individuals 
who come in contact with the Gael, and to the verdict of history. They were character- 



THE GAELIC SOCIETY OF INVERNESS. 241 

ised by that apostle of culture, Mr Matthew Arnold, in his. attempt to account for the 
presence of so much colour and feeling in English literature not to be found in its 
purely Saxon origin, as invested by a spirit of idealism a spirit for ever struggling 
with the matter-of-fact realities of life, and which he termed a spirit of Titanism. 
That might do well for a theory of the natural history of poetry in Britain, but it will 
scarcely square with the known facts of history that Highlanders who have had the 
advantage and aid of the intellectual implements and tools, which it is the birthright 
of every free-born subject of this realm to have placed in his hands, have shown chat 
they have played no mean part in the extension and consolidation of the mighty 
fabric of the British empire over all the habitable globe. (Applause.) As for the 
vindication of their rights, it is the duty, as well as the interest of such a Society as 
this to defend such rights when assailed. (Hear, hear.) The greater part of our 
kinsmen, ignorant of the English language, cannot formulate their grievances so as to 
reach the understandings and touch the hearts of the rest of their fellow-subjects con- 
versant with that language (hear, hear) and when they are encouraged by sympa- 
thisers, they are reproached as "being put up to it;" so the callous and unfeeling 
phrase it. Our duty, then, is to see that at least the means of expressing themselves 
in the English language be put within their reach, and we may be sure they will not 
require adventitious aid to plead their own cause in clear and forcible terms. (Cheers.) 
They will plead, then, to use Shakespeare's language 

" Trumpet tongued 

Against the deep damnation of their taking-off. " 

Hence, the sooner this power is given them, the better will it be for all who profess 
to admire a noble but ill-used race. (Cheers.) The cause of school education in the 
Highlands at present requires all the enlightened aid and sympathy which this and 
kindred societies can render it. I refer particularly to the cause of education in purely 
Gaelic-speaking districts. (Hear, hear.) The point ever contended for by this 
Society that of employing Gaelic as the medium of instruction in schools in districts 
where English is not the tongue known to the people has recently been held pro- 
minently before the public. Mr Mundella (cheers) with the frankness of an Eng- 
lishman, admitted the force of the arguments used by the deputation of gentlemen 
interested in this question who waited upon him lately in Edinburgh, and what is of 
more importance, he promised to consider the means to be used to further the object 
of that deputation. (Applause.) The problem is, doubtless, hedged round with diffi- 
cultiesnot the least of these being the apathy of Gaelic-speaking parents, and what 
is worse, the opposition of men in power who ought to know better what their duty 
in this matter should be. After Mr Mundella's admission that he was convinced that 
knowledge in a foreign tongue can only be acquired through the medium of the one 
known, we shall hear less of this opposition. So long as Mr Mundella represents the 
Education Department, so long will effect be given to that conviction. The Minister 
of Education, backed up by the omnipotent power of the money grant, need fear no 
opposition to his views. So true is it that force is a remedy, pace Mr Bright. Pascal, 
who is believed to have had as keen an insight into human nature as our great financial 
reformer, uttered no idle words when he said La force fait F opinion. I never could 
understand the mental attitude of those who oppose the use of the vernacular in purely 
Gaelic-speaking districts as an instrument of education. (Hear, hear.) They allege 
such an instrument to be unnecessary, seeing that English is making its way among 
the people. I admit the fact, but question whether the process might not be more 
rapid and more lasting were the language of the people made use of as a medium of 

Q 



242 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

instruction. I refuse to term the process " Education." ft is not so etymologically 
or psychologically. (Hear, hear.) You may charge the memory with meaningless 
symbols, but that is scarcely " Education." You can educate a man only by taking 
out whatever is good in him, but how that can be done without getting at the man 
through the medium of his understanding is a process known only to the opponents 
of Gaelic in the schools, and of those Rosicrucians whom Hudibras averred 

" Understood the speech of birds 
As well as they themselves did words." (Cheers.) 

They possibly have an exaggerated idea of the mental equipment of the young High- 
lander. They surely do not imagine that Highlanders have access to a royal road to 
knowledge denied to the rest of mankind. If not, why use an argument which, if 
applied to the acquisition of French and German by an English speaking youth, would 
be scouted as unworthy of any one outside the bounds of Bedlam. To add anything 
further would be to throw words away on "a self-convicted absurdity." I shall waste 
no words in defending an opinion fortified as this one now is by common sense and the 
"sinews of war." (Applause.) I ever held that the problem of how best to extend 
education in the remote parts of the Highlands was one that money mainly could solve. 
I say mainly, for there is an alternative method to which I shall presently refer. To 
take a concrete case, I shall refer to the Lews as fairly typical of what obtains in other 
parts of the Gaelic area. Here we have a school-rate which for amount is not equalled 
by that of any part of the British Dominions, so far as I know. What would be said 
of a tax of IDS. in the i, as in the parish of Barvas two years ago, and this year of 
6s. 8d.? or even of 53. 6d., as is the case in the parish of Lochs? The answer would 
perhaps be much like that of the Lancashire gentleman who exclaimed, when I told 
him of this monstrous tax, levied on a poor peasantry " Why don't the people kick?" 
I reply " They don't know whom to kick, and they are afraid of making a mistake." . 
(Hear, hear.) Unfortunately, they are kicking against the pricks, and, of course, to 
their own hurt. I am informed that the whole School Board system is viewed by them 
with hostility as a new form of intolerable oppression. The tax is levied for most with 
the rent by the estate, and this perhaps accounts for the silent patience with which the 
burden is borne. I should rather say the sullen patience under which they bear up 
the load. Or their silence may be owing, however, to that "nice backwardness of 
shame" to speak against a cause intrinsically worthy of all support. That dreadful 
load of taxation should, in the name of honour and justice, be lightened. (Hear, 
hear, and applause.) The other difficulty is that of securing teachers for remote dis- 
tricts with a knowledge of Gaelic. A knowledge of Gaelic is not made an indispen- 
sable condition in the appointment of teachers. Permissive legislation has done that. 
The best class of Gaelic-speaking teachers naturally go where the best salaries are '> 
begot; the worst are dear at any price. (Hear.) I must say that the class of teachers 
secured by such Boards as that of the Lews, to the best of my knowledge, is one which 
any district in Britain might be proud of. They have obstacles to surmount before 
which many men, who plume themselves as their superiors, would quail, and that they 
successfully meet these obstacles, so far as is possible in the peculiar circumstances of 
their case, one need only look at the high results tabulated by H.M. Inspectors in their 
annual reports. How many or how few of these excellent teachers make use of Gaelic 
in their work I cannot say. Some Boards insist upon the teacher giving Scripture 
first in Gaelic and the next day in English, with the double view, as it is expressed, of 
"helping the children to learn and nnHorcton^ both their Bibles and English better." 
Some teachers, I am informed, allege that this plan does not work well, as the children 



THE GAELIC SOCIETY OF INVERNESS. 243 

needed to begin with Gaelic primers, and required Bibles with Gaelic and English on 
alternate pages or in alternate columns. I may quote the words of a Lews gentleman, 
an enlightened and patriotic School Board member, who wrote me the other day on 
this question. Referring to the difficulty of procuring Bibles such as I have mentioned, 
he says " It occurs to me that the difficulty would vanish were Government to concede 
a grant for Gaelic teaching, and supply means to print suitable bi-lingual extracts of 
Scripture, polyglot-fashion, with Gaelic and English on opposite and alternate pages." 
This gentleman goes on to suggest that the Society for Propagating Christian Know- 
ledge might be induced to provide this want, seeing they are ready to endow the 
teaching of Gaelic, when essential, to the amount of 1$ or ^20 per annum to each 
such school. "This bonus," he continues, "small though it be, we hope to hold out 
in future where vacancies demand candidates professing Gaelic among their classical 
attainments. " (Applause. ) I suggested that even on present terms, Gaelic-speaking 
teachers of a more aspiring class than can now be induced to take service under High- 
land School Boards might be secured if arrangements were made to permit them to 
attend University classes with a view to graduation, or to pass even to other professions, 
providing always that trained substitutes were secured for the schools in their 
absence. My correspondent agrees with me in this view. I am persuaded that were 
School Boards in purely Gaelic districts to see their way to adopt such a plan, they 
would have command of the very best class of Gaelic-speaking teachers, even with 
the moderate salaries given. Such an arrangement would also put heart into many 
Gaelic-speaking teachers now engaged under these Boards. The hope of rising in 
their profession with more rapidity than is now possible would make their existence 
brighter than it can otherwise be, chained as they are to the oar to the end of the 
voyage of their life. What the existence of "an open career to talent" has done in 
other professions can do in this profession with the most beneficial results to the 
public, as well as to the individual immediately concerned who is pushing his way 
upwards in life. There are prizes in the teaching profession, but the way to them is 
not so open as it should be. The loss will ultimately fall upon the public that this 
path should not be cleared of unnecessary obstacles. We speak of the importance of 
educating our Highland people, and we declaim upon their hard lot, while few voices 
are raised to suggest practicable means to alleviate their miseries, much less to use 
effective measures to put into their hands those instruments which an English edu- 
cation alone can give to enable them, not only to hold their own in competition with 
their more fortunate fellow-subjects, but to give scope to those talents and capacities 
which, when developed, prove that the Scottish Highlander is often more than a 
match for any man of his height and weight from any nation under the sun. (Cheers.) 
Now that Latin is no longer the avenue to the storehouses of wealth in European 
literature, the advocates for the retention of this noble language in schools, are con- 
strained to find some plausible grounds for such retention. The knowledge of Latin, 
in and by itself, is not necessary towards the acquisition of English as is commonly 
held. In fact the spirit of the age is rather against a style of English formed upon a 
training in Latin. The study of Anglo-Saxon and our English classics is recom- 
mended by our best scholars as more conducive to that end than the study of the 
ancient tongues. The advocates for the continued use in the schools of Latin and 
Greek are forced therefore to maintain that the logical training acquired in analysing 
the grammatical structure of those learned languages is worth all the pains bestowed 
upon them. I am not disposed to cavil at this argument. I admit its force, but I do 
not see why, if that be the chief reason for so using these time-honoured instruments 
of culture, the claims of Gaelic, as a language of logical texture and philogical wealth, 



244 sTHE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

should be ignored (cheers) especially in districts where it is endeared to the pupils 
as the language associated with that which is after all the well-spring of all that is 
highest and noblest in man the emotions of his soul. (Applause.) As for the 
destiny of Gaelic as a spoken language, I may venture to express the hope of the 
Moidart bard, Alexander Macdonald ("Mac Mhaighistir Alastair"), in his poem in 
praise of Gaelic 

"Mhairif6s, 

'S cha te"id a gl&ir air chall, 

'Dh 'aindeoin g6 

A's mi-rdn m6r nan Gall." (Loud cheers.) 

Dr F. M. Mackenzie proposed the " Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council of 
Inverness ;" replied to by Provost Macandrew. 

Mr Colin Chisholm proposed the " Non-Resident Members," numbering, he said, 
about four hundred, and representing all ranks and conditions of Scotsmen in the 
Pulpit, in the Army, and in the Navy in all parts of the world. (Cheers.) The 
Non- Resident Members were in fact the largest and most important portion of the 
Society. (Hear, hear.) 

Mr Morrison, Dingwall, replied in a humorous and laughable speech. 

Councillor Stuart proposed the " Clergy of all Denominations," but there being 
no clergyman present to reply, that duty was well performed by 

Mr Hugh Rose, solicitor, who also proposed the " Press," coupled with Mr D. 
K. Clark, of the Inverness Courier. 

Mr Alexander Mactavish proposed the "Chairman," saying that the Society had 
just spent one of its happiest and best evenings under his presidency. The toast was 
drunk with full Highland honours and great applause. 

Provost Macandrew, in reply, said I am more than obliged to you for the way 
in which you have drunk my health. I was born a Highlander. I could speak the 
Gaelic language once, but I have lost it now. If Providence gives me the life of some 
of my forbears, I may, however, yet learn to speak it as I did before. (Cheers.) 

Bailie Mackay, in proposing the " Croupiers" said I may be allowed to say that I 
think the Committee of the Society have made a very good selection in their choice 
of Croupiers. One of them, Mr Mackenzie, I may call the father of the Society, and 
the other, Mr Macbain, is a very promising son. (Cheers.) 

Mr Alexander Mackenzie replied, and referring to his having occupied the same 
position for the last two years, stated that at the meeting for the nomination of 
Office-bearers for next year, held the week before, he refused to be nominated 
again for the office, it being best, in his opinion, that no one should occupy the 
highest positions in the Society too long. Mr Macbain also replied. 

The evening was enlivened by songs and recitations by Councillor Stuart, Capt. 
O'Sullivan, Bailie Mackay, William Mackay, Colin Chisholm, Fraser Campbell, and 
John Whyte. 

The Secretary carried out the arrangements for the dinner in a most satisfactory 
manner, and the meeting was, in every respect, a decided success. 



NEW WORK BY PROFESSOR BLACKIE. -Professor Blackie has at 
present in preparation, and expects to publish in May, a work entitled, " The 
Scottish Highlanders and the British Land Laws." The present time is peculiarly 
opportune for the publication of such a work as Professor Blackie may be expected to 
produce on this subject. 

"Celtic and Literary Notes" and other Contributions, including a Notice of 
" The History of Civilisation in Scotland," by Alexander Mackintosh, are crushed 
out by the report of the Gaelic Society. 



THE 

CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

CONDUCTED BY 

ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A., Scot. 
No. CII. APRIL 1884. VOL. IX. 

THE HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 
By the EDITOR. 

XV. 

SIR EWEN CAMERON Continued. 

LOCHIEL, after hearing 5rom the King, as described in our last, 
spent the following winter projecting measures for a Confeder- 
ation of the Clans, in the interest of James, from whom he received 
another letter, dated the 29th of March 1689, after his Ma- 
jesty had arrived in Ireland, requesting him, his friends, and fol- 
lowers, to be ready to take the field, at a place to be 'appointed, 
whenever called upon to do so. The King also gave strong 
assurances of his devotion to the Protestant Religion ; stating 
that he would respect the liberty and property of the subject ; 
that he would re-imburse any outlays to which Lochiel might be 
put ; and send him at the proper time commissions, signed, with 
power to him to fill them in, and name his own officers. On 
receipt of the document, he visited all the Chiefs near him, and 
wrote to those at a distance, seeking their co-operation ; and he 
found them all heartily willing to join in any efforts to restore 
the King. They subsequently convened, in general meeting, and 
agreed so well among themselves as to the details of what they 
were to do, that they arranged to rendezvous on the I3th of May 

R 



246 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

following at Dalmucomer, near Lochiel's residence, and com- 
municated their resolution to the King, requesting him to send a 
suitable person to lead them, and promising to hazard, if neces- 
sary, life and fortune in his cause. Matters, however, soon took 
another and unexpected turn. 

The Privy Council, unanimous in favour of James, made 
preparations for war, and expressed their gratitude for the services 
offered by his friends ; but when William of Orange arrived in 
London the Council hesitated for a time, and ultimately the 
Convention resolved to offer him the Scottish Crown, though 
Viscount Dundee, Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, and a 
few others, opposed it with great power and eloquence. What 
followed is so well known to the student of Scottish history that 
it shall here be passed over, except where Lochiel comes promin- 
ently on the scene. After Viscount Dundee had left the Con- 
vention he sent an express to Sir Ewen Cameron for information 
as to the state of feeling in the North. This communication was 
at once intimated to the other Chiefs in Lochiel's neighbourhood, 
and they agreed without delay to dispatch eight hundred men 
under Macdonald of Keppoch to convey Dundee to Lochaber ; 
but his Lordship meantime made a detour into the Highlands, 
on the way getting many to agree to join him, immediately 
they were called upon to serve their King. He received a most 
favourable communication from Lochiel, for himself and the other 
Chiefs, informing him of their having sent Keppoch to meet him 
to the borders of the Highlands. Anxious to meet his friends in 
the North as soon as possible, Dundee changed his course, and 
marched for Inverness, where he found Keppoch, who, instead of 
executing his commission, laid siege to the town, arrested the 
magistrates and the most wealthy of the citizens, compelling 
them to pay a heavy ransom before agreeing to set them at 
liberty. Dundee rebuked him so severely for his bad conduct, 
that Keppoch retired to his own country, instead of conducting 
Dundee, in terms of his commission, from the other Chiefs. This 
proved a bad beginning, for his Lordship had to return to the 
South, where he found letters awaiting him from the King, and a 
Commission appointing him Commander of his Majesty's troops 
in Scotland. He also received letters and commissions for the 
Highland Chiefs, which he at once dispatched to them. He was 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 247 

strongly urged, in letters from Lochiel, to visit Lochaber, and he 
finally decided upon doing so, marching straight through Ran- 
noch. When he arrived he was received by Sir Ewen and his 
people with every possible honour and consideration, and was 
furnished with a place of residence about a mile distant from 
Lochiel's own house. Having received full assurance from the 
other Chiefs of their readiness to join him at the appointed place 
of rendezvous, he wrote, intimating all this to the King, who was 
then in Ireland, praying him to come to Scotland and command 
them in person, promising that he would have the support of the 
people generally in regaining the throne of his ancestors. 

General Mackay, who commanded for King William, made 
every effort to induce Lochiel to join him, offering him a large sum 
of money, the government of Inverlochy, and the command of a 
regiment, with whatever titles of honour and dignities he might 
chose, assuring him that these offers were made with William's full 
authority. Lochiel, in characteristic fashion, handed Mackay's 
letter unopened to Dundee, requesting that his lordship would 
be good enough to dictate the proper answer. 

Dundee soon found himself at the head of a small following 
of 1800 horse and foot, " whereof one-half belonged to Lochiel," 
and with these he marched to meet Colonel Ramsay, one of 
Mackay's lieutenants, on his way from Athole to join his Chief at 
Inverness. Hearing of Dundee's advance, he blew up his ammuni- 
tion, and marched at his best speed, night and day, until he was 
clear out of the country. In May 1689, Dundee marched back 
to Lochaber, when Lochiel invited him to his old quarters at 
Strone, his lordship having dismissed his men for a time in con- 
sequence of the scarcity of provisions, but on condition that 
they would at any time return on a day's notice to join his 
standard. 

While here, Macdonald of the Isles joined him with about 
seven hundred men, and, being thus strengthened, Dundee pro- 
posed, to a Council of War, that they should employ their time 
until the arrival of the other clans, in disciplining their troops. 
The younger Chiefs and the Lowland officers highly approved 
of this proposal, but Lochiel, now an experienced officer, in the 
sixtieth year of his age, held an opposite opinion, and expressed 
himself to the Council in the following eloquent and telling 



248 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

terms : " That, as from his youth he had been bred among the 
Highlanders, so he had made many observations upon the natural 
temper of the people and their method of fighting; and to pretend 
to alter anything in their old customs, of which they were most 
tenacious, would entirely ruin them, and make them not better 
than newly-raised troops ; whereas, he was firmly of opinion 
that, with their own Chiefs and natural Captains at their head, 
under the command of such a General as Viscount Dundee, they 
were equal to a similar number of the best disciplined veteran, 
troops in the kingdom; that they had given repeated proofs of 
this during the wars and victories of Montrose ; and that in the 
skirmishes wherein he himself had been engaged, he had in- 
variably the good fortune to rout the enemy, though always 
superior to him in numbers. Besides, in all his conflicts with 
Cromwell's troops, he had to do with old soldiers whose courage 
had been fatal to the King and Kingdom." Having described an 
instance of the bravery and success of the Macleans against the 
enemy in a recent skirmish, he proceeded : " That since his lord- 
ship, and, perhaps, few of the low-country gentlemen and officers 
in the Council never had an opportunity of being present at a 
Highland engagement, it would not be amiss to give them a 
general hint of their manner of fighting. It was the same as that 
of the ancient Gauls, their predecessors, who had made such a 
great figure in Roman history ; he believed all the ancients 
had used the broadsword and targe in the same manner as the 
Highlanders did then, though the Romans and Grecians taught 
their troops a certain kind of discipline to inure them to obedi- 
ence. The Scots, in general, had never made such a figure in the 
field since they gave up these weapons. The Highlanders were 
the only body of men that retained the old method, excepting in 
so far as they had of late taken to the gun instead of the bow to 
introduce them into action ; that so soon as they were led against 
the enemy, they came up within a few paces of them, and having 
discharged their pieces in their very breasts, they threw them 
down and drew their swords ; the attack was so furious that 
they commonly pierced the enemy's ranks, put them into dis- 
order, and determined the fate of the day in a few moments ; 
they loved always to be in action ; and they had such con- 
fidence in their leaders that even the most daring and desper- 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 249 

ate attempt would not intimidate them if they had courage 
enough to lead them on, so that all the miscarriages of the High- 
landers were to be charged to some defect of conduct in their 
officers, and not for want either of resolution or discipline on the 
part of the men. He further added, that as a body of High- 
landers conducted by their own Chiefs were commonly equal to 
any foot whatever, so when they came to be disciplined in the 
modern manner, and mixed with regular troops under strange 
officers, they were not one straw better than their neighbours ; 
and the reason he assigned for this change, was that being turned 
out of their ordinary method, and not having the honour of their 
Chief and clan to fight for, they lost their natural courage, when 
the causes that inspire it were removed. Besides, when by the 
harsh rules of discipline, and the savage severity of their officers 
in the execution of them, they came to be reduced to a state of 
servitude, their spirits sank, and they became mere formal 
machines, acting by the impulse of fear. However military dis- 
cipline might do in standing armies, yet, since it was not proposed 
that theirs was to continue any longer than the then position of 
affairs rendered it necessary, they had not time to habituate the 
men to it, so as to make it easy and useful to them ; and, therefore, 
it was his opinion that, in all events, it was better to allow them to 
follow the old habit in which they were bred, than to begin to teach 
them a new method which they had not time to acquire." This 
was the address of a wise and far-seeing General, founded on actual 
experience ; and we are not surprised to learn that " Lochiel's 
opinion determined the Council ; and my Lord Dundee, recollect- 
ing all that he had said, declared that as he was certain of victory 
from men of so much natural courage and ferocity, he would 
not have made the proposal had he been as well acquainted with 
them as Lochiel had now made him ; and that, as everything he 
had advanced carried conviction along.with it, so, though it had 
not, yet as there is no argument like matter of fact, he thought 
himself obliged to take them on the word of one who had so long 
and so happy an experience;" and so the Highlanders were allowed 
to continue their ancient tactics. 

While waiting for the return of those of his followers 
who had been permitted to go home for want of provisions, as 
already stated, and for others who were to be with him by the 



250 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

date of the appointed rendezvous, a. characteristic incident oc- 
curred, which, but for Lochiel's prudence, might have terminated 
the war before it had scarcely began. A party of Camerons 
resolved to be avenged on the Grants of Glen-Urquhart, who had 
recently hanged two or three of their men on what was considered 
a slight provocation given in a trifling quarrel. They were of 
opinion that neither Lochiel nor Dundee would be very much 
opposed to their expedition, especially if they succeeded in 
bringing in supplies for their half-starved followers. They 
would not, however, run the risk of the Commander's re- 
fusal by asking permission to attack the enemy, but marched 
privately to the Glen, where they found the Grants fully 
armed ready to oppose them. One of the Macdonalds of Glen- 
garry, who lived in the Glen, thought that his name and the clan to 
which he belonged was not only sufficient to secure him from 
personal attack, but that his relationship to his chief was 
enough to protect the Grants, among whom he resided, from the 
revenge of the Camerons. Confident of this, he boldly marched 
up to meet them, and, intimating his name and genealogy, desired 
that, on his account, they would peaceably depart, without 
injuring the inhabitants, his neighbours, and friends. It was re- 
plied that, " if he was a true Macdonald, he ought to be with his 
Chief in Dundee's army, in the service of his King and country ; 
that they were at a loss to understand why they should, on his 
account, extend their friendship to a people who had, but a few 
days before, seized on several of their men, and hanged them 
without any other provocation than that they served King 
James, which was contrary to the laws of war as well as of 
common humanity ; that as they esteemed him, both for the 
name he bore and the gentleman to whom he belonged, so they 
desired that he would instantly separate himself and his cattle from 
the rest of his company, whom they were determined to chastise 
for their insolence ; but Macdonald replied that he would run 
the same fate with his neighbours ; and, daring them to do their 
worst, he departed in a huff." The Camerons, without further 
preliminaries, attacked the Grants, killed many of them, and 
dispersed the remainder. They then seized their cattle, and 
drove them to Lochaber in triumph. Dundee and Lochiel con- 
nived at their conduct, as they expected ; but Glengarry became 
furious about the death of his clansman, who had been slain 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 251 

among the Grants, and he demanded satisfaction from Lochiel 
and his clan. Macaulay refers to this episode in the following 
terms : " Though this Macdonald had been guilty of a high 
offence against the Gaelic code of honour and morality, his kins- 
men remembered the sacred tie which he had forgotten. Good 
or bad, he was bone of their bone ; he was flesh of their flesh ; 
and he should have been reserved for their justice. The name 
which he bore, the blood of the Lords of the Isles, should have 
been his protection. Glengarry in a rage went to Dundee and 
demanded vengeance on Lochiel and the whole race of Cameron. 
Dundee replied that the unfortunate gentleman who had fallen 
was a traitor to the clan as well as the King. Was it ever heard 
of in war that the person of an enemy, a combatant in arms, was 
to be held inviolable on account of his name and descent? And, 
even if wrong had been done, how was it to be redressed. Half 
the army must slaughter the other half before a ringer could be 
laid on Lochiel. Glengarry went away raving like a madman. 
Since his complaints were disregarded by those who ought to 
right them, he would right himself : he would draw out his men, 
and fall sword in hand on the murderers of his cousin. During 
some time he would listen to no expostulation. When he was 
reminded that Lochiel's followers were in number nearly double 
that of the Glengarry men, 'No matter,' he cried, 'one Macdon- 
ald is worth two Camerons.' Had Lochiel been equally irritable 
and boastful, it is probable that the Highland insurrection would 
have given little more trouble to the Government, and that all 
the rebels would have perished obscurely in the wilderness by 
one another's claymores. But nature had bestowed on him in 
large measure the qualities of a statesman, though fortune had 
placed those qualities in an obscure corner of the world. He 
saw that this was not a time for brawling : his own character for 
courage had been long established ; and his temper was under 
strict government. The fury of Glengarry, not being inflamed 
by any fresh provocations, rapidly abated. Indeed, there were 
some who suspected that he had never been quite so pugnacious 
as he had affected to be, and that his bluster was meant only to 
keep up his own dignity in the eyes of his retainers. However 
this might be, the quarrel was composed ; and the two chiefs met 
with the outward show of civility at the General's table,"* and 
* History of England, pp. 340-342, Vol. iii., 1855. 



252 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

the parties were soon as good friends as ever. Macaulay, who 
adapts the story from "LochieFs Memoirs," does not tell us that, 
when Glengarry declared that the courage of his men would 
make up for the disparagement of numbers between them and 
the Camerons, "Lochiel laughed at the remark, and said merrily 
that he hoped a few days would give Glengarry an opportunity 
of exerting that superiority of valour he boasted of so loudly 
against the common enemy, and that he would be exceedingly 
well-pleased to be out-done in the generous emulation " on such 
an occasion. 

Nothing could better illustrate the peculiar character of the 
material of which Dundee's army was composed than this 
squabble between two of his bravest and most distinguished 
leaders. This is how matters stood with the Highlanders 
about the middle of July 1689. Mackay soon after marched 
north to Athole, and Dundee, at the head of about 1800 High- 
landers, proceeded south to meet him, leaving orders for the 
others to follow him as quickly as possible, as soon as they could 
be got together though the day arranged for the general gather- 
ing had not yet arrived. Lochiel, at this time, had only his 
Lochaber men with him, numbering about 240, but he dis- 
patched his eldest son, John, and several others to Morvern, 
Suinart, Ardnamurchan, and the surrounding districts to bring 
up his followers from these places with all speed. Dundee, 
however, was so anxious to have Lochiel with him that he 
requested him to join him with the small body of men he had, 
leaving orders for his son to follow with the others as soon as he 
could get them together. Lochiel, with his small band over- 
took Dundee just before he entered Athole, where they were 
soon joined by 300 Irish, under Major-General Cannon. They 
then proceeded on their way, and arrived at Blair Castle on the 
27th of July, where they obtained intelligence that Mackay had 
entered the Pass of Killiecrankie. Dundee at once called a 
Council of War to consider whether they should stop where 
they were, or proceed to engage the enemy before he could 
extricate himself from the Pass. It was a serious question, 
for his main body had not yet come up, the appointed day 
of rendezvous being still in the future. The old officers, who 
had been bred to the command of regular troops, were all in 
favour of waiting, as their force was only about half the number 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 253 

of the enemy, and the result of the campaign, they urged, might 
depend upon whether they should win or lose the first battle. 
The Highlanders, though hardy and brave, these young gentle- 
men alleged, were only raw and undisciplined troops, who had 
not seen blood ; that they were much fatigued by the want of food, 
and by their long and rapid march ; not having had even the 
common necessaries of life. Various other reasons were urged 
for continuing on the defensive where they were for the present, 
and their arguments were stated with so much plausibility and 
apparent conclusiveness that they were silently and generally 
accepted, until Alexander Macdonald of Glengarry spoke out, 
and declared that though it was quite true that the High- 
landers had suffered on the march, as had been so eloquently de- 
scribed, yet these hardships did not affect them as they would 
soldiers who were bred in an easier and more plentiful mode of 
life ; they would be able and willing to engage the enemy at 
once, for nothing delighted them more than hardy and adventur- 
ous exploits. If they were kept back until attacked by the 
enemy they would lose that spirit and resolution which invariably 
characterised them when they were the aggressors. The High- 
land chiefs generally concurred in Glengarry's remarks, but 
Dundee, observing that Lochiel had still continued silent, with- 
held his own opinion until he heard what the experienced Chief 
of the Camerons had to say on the all-important subject un- 
der discussion. " For he has not only done great things him- 
self, but had such great experience, that he cannot miss to make a 
right judgment of the matter, and, therefore, his views shall deter- 
mine mine." Lochiel, in reply, depreciated what he himself had 
done in the past, and modestly urged that no example could be 
taken from his experience. The reason why he had not spoken 
during the discussion, was that he had already determined to sub- 
mit to his lordship in all things, as his conduct was so well adapted 
to the genius of the Highlanders, but as he commanded him to ex- 
press his opinion it was in one sentence. " To fight immediately, 
for our men are in heart ; they are so far from being afraid 
of their enemies, that they are eager and keen to engage 
them, lest they escape from their hands, as they have so often 
done. Though we have few men, they are good, and I can assure 
your Lordship that not one of them will fail you." He strongly 
urged the propriety of fighting at once, even though he might 



254 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

only have one man to the enemy's three, and, addressing Dundee, 
he said " Be assured, my Lord, that if once we are fairly engaged 
we will either lose our army or secure a complete victory. Our 
men love always to be in action. Your Lordship never heard 
them complain of hunger or fatigue while they were in chase of 
their enemy, which at all times were equal to us in numbers. 
Employ them in hasty and desperate enterprises, and you will 
oblige them ; and I have always observed that when I fought 
under the greatest disadvantage as to numbers, I had still the 
completest victory. Let us take this occasion to show our zeal 
and courage in the cause of our King and country, and that we 
dare attack an army of fanatics and rebels at the odds of nearly 
two to one. Their great superiority in numbers will give a neces- 
sary reputation to our victory ; and not only frighten them from 
meddling with a people conducted by such a General, and 
animated by such a cause, but will encourage the whole kingdom 
to declare in our favour." Such a spirited and warlike oration 
naturally pleased the brave Dundee, whose eyes brightened with 
a sparkle of satisfaction and delight during its delivery; and 
he pointed out to the other officers that the sentiments and 
arguments expressed by Lochiel were those of one who had 
formed his conclusions and judgment from the infallible test of 
long experience, and an intimate acquaintance with the people 
and the subject upon which he had so eloquently addressed 
them. No further objections were offered to the course urged 
by the brave Sir Ewen, and it was unanimously agreed that 
they should fight at once, a resolution received with exclama- 
tions of joy by all the Highlanders, to the great gratification of 
their General. Before the Council of War separated, however, 
Lochiel begged to be heard once more while he addressed a few 
words to Dundee himself, which he did in these terms : " My 
Lord, I have just now declared, in presence of this honourable com- 
pany, that I was resolved to give an implicit obedience to all your 
Lordship's commands ; but I humbly beg leave, in name of these 
gentlemen, to give the word of command for this once. It is the 
voice of your Council ; and their orders are that you do not 
engage personally. Your Lordship's business is to have an eye 
on all parts, and issue your commands as you think proper ; it is 
ours to execute them with promptitude and courage. On your 
Lordship depends not only the fate of this brave little army, but 



ORIGIN OF THREE GAELIC PROVERBS 255 

also of our "King and country. If your Lordship deny us this 
reasonable demand, for my own part, I declare that neither I, nor 
any that I am concerned in, shall draw a sword on this important 
occasion, whatever construction may be put upon my conduct." 
In this appeal Lochiel was supported by the whole Council, but 
Dundee asked to be heard in reply, addressing them thus : 
" Gentlemen, as I am absolutely convinced, and have had repeated 
proofs of your zeal for the King's service, and of your affection to 
me, as his General and your friend, so I am fully sensible that my 
engaging personally this day may be of some loss if I shall chance 
to be killed ; but I beg leave of you, however, to allow me to give 
-one harvest-day to the King, my master, that I may have an 
opportunity of convincing the brave Clans that I can hazard my 
life in that service as freely as the meanest of them. Ye know 
their temper, gentlemen, and if they do not think that I have 
personal courage enough, they will not esteem me hereafter, nor 
obey my commands with cheerfulness. Allow me this single 
favour, and I promise, upon my honour, never again to risk my 
person while I have the honour of commanding you." Finding 
him so determined, the Council gave way, and at once broke 
up to prepare for immediate action. 

(To be continued.) 



THE ORIGIN OF THREE GAELIC PROVERBS. 

THE origin of the many proverbs, of which the Gaelic language 
furnishes such a store, is often a most interesting and instructive 
study, affording, as it does, so many glimpses into the character 
and customs of the ancient Highlander. We venture to present 
the reader with three little stories which have been the founda- 
tions of the same number of Gaelic proverbs. 

There lived in Islay a certain farmer, who, at one time, 
decided to remove to another dwelling. On the day before he 
intended to flit, he invited some of his neighbours to a farewell 
gathering. His house was small, and while the, feast was pro- 
ceeding, the guests suffered some inconvenience from overcrowd- 
ing. Seeing this, their host told his son, a boy about ten years 
old, to take his meat away to a corner, so as to give the rest more 
room. In rather reluctantly obeying this order, the boy, acci- 



256 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

dentally or intentionally, spilt a portion of his victuals upon the 
floor, and, being rebuked for his carelessness, he replied " Is 
iomadh ni a chailleas fear na h-imrich" (Many things are lost by 
him that removes.) The force of this observation, in his own 
circumstances, so struck the father that he resolved not to re- 
move after all, and the boy's words have passed into a proverb, 
which is often applied to those about to make a flitting. 

Another common saying is " Thugadh gach fear coin a 
cragaibh dha fein " (Let every man take birds from rocks for 
himself), and it is said to have originated as follows : Two men 
went out one day to catch sea-birds. One of them passed a 
rope round his body, and the other dropped him down over the 
edge of the rocks where the birds nested. The man at the top 
held the rope, and the other crept along the ledges and caught 
the birds. When he had secured as many as he could carry, he 
shouted to his companion to pull him up. The other cried out, 
and asked what was to be his share of the birds. The reply 
came up in the words of the proverb. " Well, well," said he who 
held the rope, " let every one hold a rope for himself," and 
letting go his hold, his companion, with the birds, fell to the foot 
of the rocks, where he was instantaneously killed. 

The well-known Alastair MacCholla Chiotaich, who fought 
under Montrose, is credited with being the first to utter the 
proverb " 'S truagh nach bu cheaird gu leir sibh an diugh " (I 
wish you were all tinkers to-day.) At the battle of Auldearn, 
Macdonald was cut off from the rest of his men, and surrounded 
by a number of the enemy in a small sheep fold. It would have 
gone hard with him but for a poor tinker from Athole, named 
Stewart, who, seeing Macdonald's plight, rushed gallantly to his 
rescue, and used his broadsword to such effect that the enemy 
fled. Alastair thanked his preserver, asked him who he was, and 
where he came from. The poor man, ashamed to avow his occu- 
pation, replied that he was not worth asking about, nor, indeed, 
worthy of being called a man at all. Macdonald assured him 
that what he had done that day would make up for anything else, 
and after much pressing, Stewart told him his name and occupa- 
tion ; upon which Macdonald made the observation, which has 
been handed down to posterity in the words quoted. 

H. R. M. 



257 



THE DISARMING ACT AND THE PROSCRIPTION 
OF THE HIGHLAND DRESS. 

BY J. G. MACKAY. 



I. 

WE often hear the question asked, Why have the Highlanders 
discontinued to wear their own national dress? There are many 
Cockneys who even yet imagine that in Scotland the people still 
wear nothing but tartan, speak but a barbarous language which 
no one can understand, and eat only Scotch haggis, and drink 
whisky. When, therefore, they invest their brawny limbs in the 
costume of the clans, and start out to "do the Highlands," imagin- 
ing themselves the prototype of Roderick Mhic Alpein Duibh, or 
some such Highland chief, and find themselves the only repre- 
sentatives of the typical Highlander, while every one around 
them has his limbs encased in the ordinary habiliments of the 
rest of the world, they think they have made a discovery that the 
whole thing is a delusion, the mendacious fabrication of some 
modern London Celt, anxious to get up the name of his country 
by palming his own fanciful invention on a credulous public as 
the garb of his race. The dress is, therefore, pronounced a fancy 
dress, and of modern invention. There are now even many 
Highlanders who know so little about it that they cannot name 
the various articles constituting the dress, while there are very 
few who know the tartan of their own clan, or the cause of the 
dress being discontinued. 

To give an account of the Disarming Act and the proscrip- 
tion of the dress, it is necessary to go back to the time of the 
rebellion of 1715. The Highlanders played such a prominent 
part both in that and the previous struggle, and proved such 
powerful antagonists, that the Government found it necessary to 
devise some means of reducing them to order. 

In 1718 an Act was passed "declaring it unlawful for any 
person or persons (except such as were therein described) to 
carry arms within the shires of Dumbarton, Stirling, Perth, Kin- 
cardine, Aberdeen, Inverness, Nairn, Cromarty, Argyll, Forfar, 
Banff, Sutherland, Caithness, Elgin, and Ross ;" but that Act not 
being sufficient to accomplish the ends desired, it was further 



258 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

enforced by an enactment made in the year 1726, "for the more 
effectual disarming of the Highlands, in that part of Great Britain 
called Scotland." This Act of 1726 was only intended to remain 
in force for seven years, " but the purpose being still unattained," 
the Government came to the conclusion that more stringent 
means must be adopted. This impression turned out too true, 
when, on the landing of Prince Charlie, in 1745, many of the 
Highlanders again joined the Standard, and the country that 
was supposed to be completely stripped of its armour, was found 
bristling with steel, "frae Maiden Kirk tae John o' Groat's." 
The Highlanders did not see the force of giving up their much- 
loved weapons, which they expected to be of use to them again. 
All the serviceable arms were carefully secreted, and the old and 
useless given up, so that the second rebellion found them as well 
prepared as the first. 

Most readers will be familiar with the history of that un- 
fortunate but brilliant attempt made to reinstate Prince Charlie 
on the throne of his fathers. Several of the clans took up arms 
on his behalf, and after a short career of the most extraordinary 
successes, having penetrated to the very heart of England, they 
may be said to have shaken the British throne to its very founda- 
tions. When by some ill-advised policy they retreated to Scot- 
land, then began their troubles ; the good fortune which formerly 
smiled upon them now forsook them altogether, till on the disas- 
trous field of Culloden their last ray of hope was extinguished 
for ever. It was now that the poor Highlanders began to realise 
the penalty they were to undergo for doing what they considered 
their duty. They were always supporters of the Stuart family, 
whom they considered to be of their own race, and their chival- 
rous spirit could not brook the idea of their being defrauded of 
their just rights. When, on the field of Culloden, the followers 
of Cumberland found victory on their side for the first time, their 
Commander gave them unlimited license to murder and pillage. 
Their feelings having been wrought up to the greatest fury, they 
determined to have revenge ; having suffered defeat so often at 
the hands of the "half-naked savages," as they termed the High- 
landers, now that fortune had turned in their favour, they 
were determined to appease their blood-thirsty appetites to the 
uttermost. " This fiendish conduct of the English soldiers," re- 
marks Sir Walter Scott, formed such a contrast to the gentle 



THE DISARMING ACT. 259 

conduct of the Highlanders, as to remind him of the Latin pro- 
verb, " That the most cruel enemy was a coward who had ob- 
tained success." The Duke of Cumberland and his subordinates 
showed little discrimination in the choice of their victims, bring- 
ing their ruthless vengeance to bear on Chief and people alike. 
Guilty or not, it mattered little, if the unfortunate wretches bore 
sufficient evidence of Highland origin, or could not plead their 
own cause in English. But terrible as were these trials, and severe 
as were the persecutions they had to undergo, these alone would 
never have broken the independent spirit of the Gael. They 
were accustomed to war and all its consequences, its successes 
_and reverses, so that Cumberland, with all his bloodhounds at his 
back, could not have succeeded in bringing them into entire 
subjection. 

Parliament, however, set itself to design means by which to 
assimilate the Highlands with the rest of the country, and deprive 
the Highlanders of the power to combine against the Govern- 
ment It was felt that such a measure must be resorted to as 
would make it impossible for a repetition of these offences ever 
to occur again, and certainly they could not have hit upon a more 
successful course than the one adopted. Under the system of 
clanship existing in the Highlands in these days, every man was 
trained to the use of warlike weapons ; each clan lived a separate 
community by itself, bound together by the ties of clanship 
whose rights they were bound to support, "come weal, come 
woe." Chief and people being clad alike in their own distinctive 
tartan, they were able at a glance to know friend from foe, and 
act with all the advantages of military discipline. " It affords," 
says Dr Johnson, " a generous and manly pleasure to conceive a 
little nation gathering its fruits and tending its flocks with fearless 
confidence, though it is open on every side to invasion ; where, 
in contempt of walls or trenches, every man sleeps securely, with 
his sword beside him ; and where all, on the first approach of 
hostility, come together at the call to battle, as the summons to 
a festival show, committing their cattle to the care of those whom 
age or nature has disabled to engage the enemy with that com- 
petition for hazard and glory which operate in men that fight 
under the eye of those whose dislike or kindness they have 
always considered as the greatest evil or the greatest good." 

The previous Act for disarming the Highlanders not having 



260 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

been found sufficient, Government was now determined to take 
most stringent measures, immediate action being necessary from 
the fact, to quote the words of the Act, " That many persons 
within the said bounds and shires still continued possessed of 
arms, and that as a great number of such persons had lately 
raised and carried on a most audacious rebellion against his 
Majesty in favour of a Popish Pretender, and in prosecution 
thereof did, in a most traitorous and hostile manner, march into 
the southern parts of this kingdom, took possession of several 
towns, raised contributions upon the country, and committed 
many other disorders, to the terror and great loss of many of his 
Majesty's faithful subjects." The Statute 2Oth, Geo. II., chap. 
5 1, was enacted. It was entitled " An Act for the more effectual 
disarming the Highlands in Scotland, and for more effectually 
securing the peace of said Highlands, and for restraining the use 
of the Highland dress," etc. This time there was no evading 
the law ; a certain day was appointed on which they were bound 
to give up all the. arms in their possession. It was enacted 

That, from and after the first day of August 1746, it shall be lawful for the 
respective Lord-Lieutenants of the several shires above recited, and for such other 
person or persons as his Majesty, his heirs, or successors shall, by his or their sign 
manual, from time to time, think fit to authorise and appoint in that behalf, to issue 
or cause to be issued, letters of summons in his Majesty's name . . . command- 
ing and requiring all and every person and persons therein named, or inhabiting 
within the particular limits therein described, to bring in and deliver up, at a certain 
day . . . and a certain place ... all and singular his and their arms and 
warlike weapons unto such Lord- Lieutenant or other person or persons appointed by 
his Majesty, his heirs or successors ; . . . and if any person or persons in such 
summons mentioned by name, or inhabiting within the limits therein described, shall, 
by the oaths of one or more credible witness or witnesses, be convicted of having or 
bearing any arms or warlike weapons after the day prefixed in such summons . 
every such person or persons so convicted shall forfeit the sum of fifteen pounds ster- 
ling, and shall be committed to prison until payment of the said sum ; and if any 
person or persons, convicted as aforesaid, shall refuse or neglect to make payment of 
the foresaid sum of fifteen pounds sterling, within the space of one calendar month 
from the date of such conviction, it shall and may be lawful to any one or more of his 
Majesty's Justices of the Peace, or to the Judge Ordinary of the place where such 
offender or offenders is or are imprisoned, in case he or they shall judge such offender 
or offenders fit to serve his Majesty as a soldier or soldiers, to cause him or them to 
be delivered over (as they are hereby empowered or required to do) to such officer 
or officers belonging to the forces of his Majesty, his heirs, or successors, who shall 
be appointed from time to time to receive such men to serve as soldiers in any 
of his Majesty's forces in America ; . . . and in case such offender or offenders 
shall not be judged fit to serve his Majesty as aforesaid, then he or they shall be im- 
prisoned for the space of six calendar months, and also until he or they shall give 



THE DISARMING ACT. 261 

sufficient security for his or their good behaviour for the space of two years from the 
giving thereof. 

The Highland ladies had espoused the Jacobite cause .so 
heartily that they came in for a special clause " If the person con- 
victed shall be a woman, she shall, over and above the foresaid fine 
and imprisonment till payment, suffer imprisonment for the space 
of six calendar months, within the Tolbooth of the head burgh 
of the Shire or Stewartry within which she is convicted." Things 
had certainly come to a sad pass when the most stringent clause 
of the whole was reserved for the weaker sex ; but the Legisla- 
ture saw the great power wielded by the Jacobite ladies, many of 
whom, when their husbands were either too irresolute, or too 
careful to risk the chance of offending the reigning powers, raised 
the clansmen, and led them in person to the standard of the 
Prince. But the harshest clause of all is to follow ! It was hard 
enough to deprive Highlanders of their much-loved weapons 
the trusty claidheamh-mor, in which they took such a pride, which 
had been their constant companion since ever they were able to 
wield it. In many cases it was a sacred heirloom, handed down 
from father to son, and its well-tempered blade showed by its 
numerous notches the many deadly struggles in which it had 
been engaged. But the Highlander must throw aside his 
national garb the very type of his own free, manly spirit, " a 
dress which had been handed down to him from a period reach- 
ing beyond either history or tradition," and confine himself in the 
contemptible garb of his enemy. So it was further enacted 

That from and after the first day of August 1747, no man or boy within that part 
of Great Britain called Scotland, other than such as shall be employed as officers and 
soldiers in his Majesty's forces, shall, on any pretence whatsoever, wear or put on the 
clothes commonly called Highland clothes that is to say, the plaid, philabeg, or little 
kilt, trowse, shoulder belt, or any part whatsoever of what peculiarly belongs to the High- 
land garb ; and that no tartan or party-coloured plaid or stuff shall be used for great 
coats or for upper coats ; and if any such person shall presume, after the said first day of 
August, to wear or put on the aforesaid garments, or any part of them, every such 
person so offending, being convicted thereof by the oath of one or more credible wit- 
ness or witnesses, before any Court of Justiciary, or any other or more Justices of the 
Peace for the Shire or Stewartry, or Judge Ordinary of the place where such offence 
shall be committed, shall suffer imprisonment, without bail, during the space of six 
months, and no longer ; and, being convicted for a second offence before a Court of 
Justiciary or at the Circuits, shall be liable to be transported to any of his Majesty's 
plantations beyond the seas there to remain for the space of seven years." 

This was a bitter pill to swallow, for, as to the clause for- 
bidding the carrying of arms, the Highlanders could not but see 

s 



262 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE 

that the Government was acting according to the dictates of 
common prudence, but to interfere with a matter so simple and 
personal as their dress was clearly carrying the thing too far ; it 
seemed as if the Government wished to degrade and insult them 
to no purpose. They had already paid dearly for their un- 
fortunate allegiance to the fallen cause, and could not see the 
purport of this silly oppression. " Had the whole race been 
decimated," remarks General Stewart, " more violent grief, indig- 
nation, and shame could not have been excited among them, 
than by being deprived of their long inherited costume." If we 
may judge the feelings of the people by the productions of the 
bards of the day, they were certainly bitter enough. In the song 
" He 'n clo dubh," by Alexander Macdonald, this feeling is very 
clearly shown. A few of the verses run thus: 

Shaoil leis gun do mhaolaich so 
Faobhar nan Gaidheal tapaidh, 
Ach's ann a chuir e geur orr' 
Ni 's beurra na deud na h-ealltainn. 
Dh-fhag e iad Ian mi-ruin 
Cho ciocrasach ri coin acrach ; 
Cha chaisg deoch an iotadh, 

Ge b' fhion i, ach fior fhuil Shasuinn. 

* * * * 

Ge d' chuir sibh oirnne buarach, 
Thiugh, luaighte, gu'r falbh a bhacadh, 
Ruithidh sinn cho luath, 
'S na's buaine na feidh a ghlasraidh. 

In that excellent book by Professor Blackie, " The Language 
and Literature of the Scottish Highlands," there is an English 
translation of some verses of this song. The following afford a 
good example of its spirit : 

A coward was he not a king who did it, 
Banning with statutes the garb of the brave ; 
But the breast that wears the plaidie, 
Ne'er was a home to the heart of a slave. 

Let them tear our bleeding bosoms, 
Let them drain our latest veins, 
In our hearts is Charlie, Charlie ! 
While a spark of life remains. 

Donachadh Ban sings with equal bitterness when he says 

O tha na briogais liath-ghlas 
Am bliadhna cuir mulaid oirnn, 
'Se 'n rud nach fhacas riamh oirnn, 
'S nach iniann leinn a chumail oirnn ; 



THE DISARMING ACT. 263 

'S na 'm bitheamaid uile dileas 
Do 'n righ bha toirt cuireadh dhuinn, 
Cha 'n fhaicte sinn gu dilinn 
A striochda do 'n chulaidh so. 

If this punishment had been confined to the clans that took 
part in the rebellion, it would not have been so cruel, but friend 
and foe were treated alike with equal severity. It was very hard 
for those clans who remained faithful to the Government, that 
they should have io suffer this degradation' and shame as the re- 
ward of their fidelity not only to lay aside the swords they had 
used on behalf of the Government, but compelled to carry the 
brand on their very backs ; it looked as if it were more the inten- 
tion to outrage their feelings as a race than the act of a wise and 
just administration. " It is impossible to read this Act," says Dr 
Johnson, " without considering it rather as an ignorant wanton- 
ness of power, than the proceeding of a wise and beneficent 
Legislature." Rob Donn expresses the sentiments of his 
countrymen when he says in 

ORAN NAN CASAGAN DUBHA, 
Lamh Dhe leinn a dhaoine 
C' uime chaochail sibh fasan, 
'S nach 'eil agaibh de shaorsa 
Fiu an aodaich a chleachd sibh, 
'S i mo bharail mu'n 6ighe, 
Tha 'n aghaidh feileadh a's osan, 
Gu'm bheil caraid aig Tearlach, 
Ann am Parlamaid Shasuinn. 

Faire Faire ; 'Righ Deorsa, 
'N ann a spors' air do dhilsean, 
Deanamh achdachan ura, 
Gu bhi dublachadh 'n daorsa, 
Ach on 's balaich gun nails' iad, 
'S fearr am bualadh no'n caomhnadh, 
'S bidh ni's lugh g' ad fheitheamh, 
'N uair thig a leithid a ri'sd oirnn. 

Ma gheibh do namhaid 's do charaid, 
An aon pheanas an Albainn, 
'S iad a dh-eirich 'na t-aghaidh 
Rinn an roghainn a b' fhearra dhiubh. 

Rob Bonn's countrymen took up arms on behalf of the Gov- 
ernment, both in 1715 and in 1745, and it was certainly galling 
to be subjected to such treatment as this for their pains. 
(To be continued.) 



264 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

TO THE GAEL. 



I'll sing a song to Highlanders, wherever they may be, 

A song of love and friendship to my kinsmen o'er the sea, 

A thousand joys I wish to all who claim the mountain land, 

A thousand times I'd love to shake each honest Highland hand ; 

Our Caledonia silent sits upon her mountains lone, 

Dark mists and tempests wild rage still around her rocky throne, 

Her fountains pour their music hoarse, her rivers sweetly sing, 

Her heather-bells in beauty still their 'fragrant blossoms fling. 

Come sing a song for Caledon ! the home we love so well, 
In every distant cot or hall her strains of beauty swell, 
Howe'er oppressors crush our race, our hearts are ever true 
To Caledonia's lonely glens and rocky mountains blue. 

Her wintry blasts sweep loudly o'er her children's lowly graves, 
'Mid ruined cots their melody in sorrow's cadence raves, 
Her summer winds the thistles kiss, and sigh in sad despair 
For stalwart men and bonnie maids who once were dwelling there ; 
Her glens are green ; but, oh, it is the verdure of the tomb ! 
Cold desolation spreads around its dark and deathly gloom, 
The laverock's lilt e'en seems a song of anguish or of pain, 
And Caledonia weeps for days that ne'er will come again. 
But sing a song for Caledon, &c. 

Her waves still leap with joyous pride around her rocky shore, 
Or break their swelling, foamy crests in anger's sullen roar 
That rolls to heaven, and tells the tale of tyranny and blood, 
Which clings to Caledonia's name and cheerless widowhood ; 
Her sons that dwell around her now no more are tartan clad, 
The maidens that adorn her still are songless now and sad. 
The love which once imbued their hearts is quenched by Saxon scorn, 
And chiefless now they tread her hills forsaken and forlorn. 
But sing a song for Caledon, &c. 

Denied by landlord strangers harsh, the simple right to live, 
In distant lands they seek the joys that willing toil can give, 
And tho' afar from hills and glens their love they ne'er forget, 
Around each hearth is heard the songs of Caledonia yet ; 
Then tho' our Fatherland is reft of ancient might and worth, 
We aye will show that Highlanders are foremost on the earth. 
Our love of home can never die, as Gaels our boast appears, 
Where'er we live we proudly stand as Freedom's pioneers. 

Come sing a song for Caledon ! the home we love so well, 
In every distant cot or hall her dear old music swell, 
Howe'er oppressors crush our race, our hearts are ever true 
To Caledonia's lonely glens and rocky mountains blue. 

Sunderland. WM. ALLAN. 






265 



CHARLES FRASER-MACKINTOSH, M.P., F.S.A., SCOT. 

BIOGRAPHICAL Sketches of prominent Highlanders have from 
time to time appeared in these pages. It will be very generally 
conceded, whatever differences of opinion may exist on minor 
matters of detail in his public career hitherto, that the sub- 
ject of the present sketch is a very prominent Highlander, and 
that he well deserves a very high, if not the leading place among 
those who will have left their mark on the history of the High- 
lands, politically and socially. A notice of his career will be 
specially interesting at the present juncture, when the labours and 
the result of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the state of the 
Highlands, in which he has taken such a distinguished part on 
the side of the people, is placed before the country, and that quite 
independently of whether the result of the Inquiry is considered 
satisfactory or the reverse. 

Mr Fraser-Mackintosh was born on the 5th of June 1828 at 
Dochnalurg, on the estate of Dochgarroch. His father, Alex- 
ander Fraser, a cadet of the family of Fraser of Kinneries, was 
born so far back as 1764. His great-grandfather, also named 
Alexander, lived in 1708 at Achnabodach, now Charleston, on 
the property of Kinmylies, and is on record as having paid a 
sum of money to the Town Council of Inverness for the free- 
dom of toll over the old stone bridge, carried away by the flood 
of 1849, for himself and for his heirs for ever. Two of his sons, 
having been "out" in 1715, were among the first Highlanders 
who emigrated to South Carolina ; and from them sprung the 
numerous and wealthy Frazers (for so they spell their surname) 
who, for the last century and a-half, have held such influential 
positions in the city of Charleston, and were so prominent in the 
late Federal and Confederate war in the United States of 
America. 

Alexander Fraser, Dochnalurg, married Marjory, daughter 
of Captain Alexander Mackintosh, only son of William, only son 
of Duncan, a Captain in the Mackintosh Regiment of 1715, and 
third brother of Brigadier Mackintosh of Borlum, who com- 
manded the Highlanders in the first Stuart Rising. Among the 
issue of this marriage was our present subject, Mr Charles Fraser- 



266 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Mackintosh, M.P., F.S.A., Scot. His grandfather, Captain Alex- 
ander Mackintosh, above named, married his cousin, Janet, eldest 
daughter of Charles Maclean of Dochgarroch, the head of a 
family for several generations prominent in the immediate 
vicinity of Inverness, descended from Sir Charles Maclean of 
Urquhart, after whom they were styled Clan Tearlaich. 

Mr Eraser-Mackintosh received his early education under 
the private tutorship of the Rev. A. Watson. Later, from 1836 
to 1840, he was under the tuition of Mr Forbes, of Dochgarroch 
School, an eminent classical scholar, who did such justice to his 
charge that in his eleventh year he gained prizes at a great High- 
land competiton, held in 1839 in Inverness, for Latin and Greek. 
After leaving Dochgarroch School Mr Eraser-Mackintosh at- 
tended for one year Messrs Gair's Seminary at Torbreck. 

It had been first intended that he should seek hisTortune 
abroad, but an elder brother having then recently died in Calcutta, 
while another was at sea, and his mother having the bones of one 
uncle and of three brothers resting in foreign lands, it was finally 
resolved that young Mr Charles should seek his fortune at home, 
in the legal profession. In 1842, in his fourteenth year, he en- 
tered the office of Mr John Mackay, solicitor, Procurator- Fiscal 
for the county ; and in 1 844 he was indentured as an apprentice 
with the late Patrick Grant, Sheriff-Clerk for the county of Inver- 
ness, with whom he remained for three years. From 1847 to 
1849 he served with the late Mr Charles Stewart of Brin, after 
which he went to Edinburgh, where he served in the office of a 
Writer to the Signet, meantime attending the classes of Civil 
Law, Scots Law, Conveyancing, and Rhetoric, taking an honour- 
able position in nearly all of them. He passed as a Notary Public 
in May 1853 ; and in the following month, in the 25th year of 
his age, was admitted a Procurator at Inverness. He soon made 
for himself a good position in his profession at the head of an 
extensive and lucrative practice. 

In 1857 he appeared prominently for the first time in pub- 
lic life, acting as one of the agents of Alexander Campbell of 
Monzie, who in that year unsuccessfully contested the Inverness 
Burghs as an Advanced Liberal, against Mr (now Sir) Alexander 
Matheson, the sitting member. 

In the same year his uncle, Eneas Mackintosh, formerly an 



CHARLES FRASER-MACKINTOSH, M.P. 267 

officer in the Royal Navy, who died in August 1857, by his 
settlement proceeding on the narrative that he was the last de- 
scendant of Duncan Mackintosh, third son of William Mackin- 
tosh of Borlum, and for the keeping up of the family name 
requested his nephew, the subject of these remarks, to assume 
the additional surname of Mackintosh, to whom the Royal license 
for that end was duly granted. 

The same year, he was urged to become a candidate for 
the Town Council, and he stood for the Third Ward, when he 
was returned at the top of the poll, very much in consequence of 
his energetic and warm advocacy of the popular Parliamentary 
candidate, Mr Campbell of Monzie, in the recent contest; and this 
position he always maintained until he finally retired from the 
Council in 1862, where he had invariably supported the advanced 
popular and reform party, then, and for several years after, in a 
minority. 

In 1859 he again supported the advanced Liberal party in the 
Burghs in their second attempt to return Mr Campbell of Monzie, 
on this occasion giving his services as agent gratuitously, and 
subscribing 100 towards the expenses of the contest. 

In 1860 he was elected Captain of the 4th Inverness Com- 
pany of Rifle Volunteers, and continued in command for the next 
ten years, when he had to resign in consequence of other press- 
ing engagements. 

In 1 86 1 he was associated with Messrs G. G. Mackay, C.E., 
Donald Davidson, and Hugh Rose, solicitors, in bringing about 
the most important improvement that was ever made in the town 
of Inverness the great Union Street Scheme, which has so 
largely benefited and beautified the town, and proved so lucrative 
to the projectors. In 1863 he bought the estate of Drummond 
in the neighbourhood, which had once belonged to his great-great 
uncle, Provost Phineas Mackintosh; and in 1864 that of Balli- 
feary, both now important and populous suburbs of Inverness. 

In May 1867 he retired from the legal profession, when he 
was entertained to a public dinner by his brother townsmen, and 
from June in that year until July 1868, he travelled all over 
Europe. On his return home he consented to act, for a limited 
period, as Commissioner for the late Mackintosh of Mackintosh, 
but he gave up that position in 1873, when he was entertained to 



268 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

a public dinner by the tenantry, at which the late Chief and 
several of the leading farmers and smaller tenants spoke of his 
estate management in the highest and warmest terms. 

In 1873 many electors in Inverness thought that a change 
from a Whig representative to one who would more distinctly 
and actively represent the real opinions of the Burghs had be- 
come necessary in their political life. About fifty of these met 
together, and after a consultation among themselves and with Mr 
Eraser-Mackintosh, it was resolved to test the feeling in the con- 
stituency in favour of a change, more decidedly, by a requisition 
in his favour, he meantime agreeing to contest the next vacancy, 
should the requisition prove satisfactory. The proposal was 
found to be most popular, and in a few days a requisition, signed 
by about six hundred electors, was presented to him, when he at 
once finally consented to stand as an Independent candidate at 
the end of the existing Parliament. In the meantime he pro- 
ceeded to Algiers, where he remained until Parliament was dis- 
solved in 1874. After a keen contest in the four Burghs, he was 
elected, much to the surprise of the old Whigs, by the substantial 
majority of 255, and has continued to represent the Burghs 
with increased activity, usefulness, and popularity, without a con- 
test, ever since. In the first speech which he delivered, as a 
candidate to represent the Burghs in Parliament, on the 28th 
of August 1873, he declared "I claim your suffrages as a 
Highlander speaking and familiar with the Gaelic language, and 
ready to advocate in the highest quarters all the legitimate 
requirements of the Highland people many of which have 
hitherto been entirely neglected, and grievously overlooked and 
ignored." 

Before dealing with his Parliamentary career, and the 
manner in which he carried out this pledge, it is right to state 
that he had already made for himself a place and a name in the 
literature of his country. In 1865 he published his " Antiquarian 
Notes," a most interesting and valuable addition to the literature 
of the Highlands, and now so rare that scarcely a copy can be 
procured second-hand at four or five times its original published 
price. In 1866 he issued " Dunachton Past and Present ;" and in 
1875 appeared his " Invernessiana," being " Contributions towards 
a History of the Town and Parish of Inverness, from 1160 to 



CHARLES FRASER-MACKINTOSH, M.P. 269 

1599," illustrated by excellent engravings and lithographs of 
some of the most interesting buildings and antiquarian relics in 
or connected with the town. The work is invaluable to all who 
take any interest in the early history of the Highland Capital, 
and it is already becoming rare. Mr Eraser-Mackintosh informs 
us in the preface that he was induced to perform this important 
service to his countrymen " from a desire to honour Inverness, 
for," he says 

' I take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof ;' 

and also from having been favoured with a perusal of many valu- 
able old papers connected with the burgh in their original 
language and caligraphy unintelligible to ordinary readers and 
which are nearly all unknown to the public, having never before 
appeared in print." The work occupied his intervals of relaxation 
during a period of eight years, engaged in other arduous occupa- 
tions, by which he preserved many valuable literary relics and 
memorials of Inverness and the North, which would otherwise, in 
course of time, be for ever lost. 

In 1876 he had placed a notice of motion on the Books of the 
House of Commons in favour of teaching Gaelic in Highland 
schools, but as he was only able to secure for it a second place, 
and in consequence of the motion having precedence of it lead- 
ing to a long debate, he was unable to bring it on. Mainly, 
however, through his efforts the Education Department in 1877 
reluctantly agreed to issue circulars to Highland School Boards 
containing queries : (i) As to whether or not the School Boards 
were disposed to take advantage of Gaelic ; (2) whether or not 
Gaelic teachers could be got ; and (3) the number of children 
that would probably attend these schools. These circulars 
having been returned in 1877, were printed, and the result 
was considered highly satisfactory to the advocates of Gaelic 
teaching in the schools ; especially so, as they showed that there 
would be no difficulty in getting a sufficient number of teachers 
to teach the language. On the strength of this return, Mr Eraser- 
Mackintosh set again to work, with the result that in the Code 
for 1878, Gaelic was recognised to the extent of permitting it to 
be taught for at least two hours a-week, and might be used as a 
means of instruction in other branches. Unfortunately, however, 
the Highland School Boards took no advantage of the concession 
secured, and, notwithstanding Mr Eraser-Mackintosh's continued 



270 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

efforts, little actual progress has been made beyond the advance- 
ment of public opinion, and, to all appearance, the conversion 
of the present Minister for Education to common-sense views, 
on which it is hoped action will soon fellow, by having 
Gaelic placed at least in as good a position as foreign languages. 
On the 1 3th of March 1878 he delivered a paper to the Gaelic 
Society of London, urging the necessity of combination among 
Highlanders and Celtic Societies to advocate the common in- 
terests of the race, which gave an impetus to, if it did not practi- 
cally originate, the movement which soon after brought about 
the Federation of Celtic Societies, an Association which, in some 
important respects, has in the past done good service in the 
people's cause. 

Curiously enough, at a meeting on the same evening, the 
Gaelic Society of Inverness resolved to recognise in some public 
manner the services rendered by Mr Eraser-Mackintosh in con- 
nection with Highland education, by presenting him with an 
address and entertaining him to a public dinner in Inverness. 
This was done on the 24th of April following, when what has 
been correctly described as a " great Celtic demonstration " took 
place in the Capital of the Highlands, attended by representatives 
from nearly all the Celtic Societies in Britain. A meeting took 
place at noon in the Town Hall, when Provost Simpson, who 
presided, made an excellent speech, in presenting the address in 
name of the Celtic Societies, in which, after enumerating Mr 
Eraser-Mackintosh's services, he said, amidst enthusiastic cheers 
"All this shows a growing sense of the importance of the subject 
you have done so much to promote, which has earned for 
you the well-deserved and honoured designation of the ' Member 
for the Highlands.' I trust that the marked success which has 
attended your efforts in the past will stimulate you to continue 
the good work if your true Highland heart needs any stimulus 
but your inborn love for the good of your native North. I do not 
think it does ; still one enjoys success, and others, seeing yours, 
will more readily also put their hands to the work." 

The Provost then read and handed the following address 

To Charles Fraser- Mackintosh, Esq. of Drummond, M.P. 

SIR, We beg to congratulate you on the marked success which has attended 
your efforts since you entered Parliament to secure for the Gaelic-speaking children of 
the Highlands the use of, and instruction in, their native tongue in our national schools. 

You have this session obtained a recognition in the Education Code for Scotland 



CHARLES ERASER-MACKINTOSH, M.P. 271 

of the principle that the language should be taught in the schools and paid for out of 
the school rates. This we value as a most important admission by Government of the 
educational requirements and claims so long contended for by the Gaelic-speaking 
people of the Highlands ; and as a valuable concession that places the teaching of 
Gaelic in the hands of the School Boards, which is practically to give^to the ratepayers 
the power to enforce the teaching of that language wherever they desire it. We trust 
that this is only the beginning of what you may yet be able to accomplish, if properly 
supported by the united efforts of those who take a real and earnest interest in the 
education of our Highland youth. 

You well deserve the honourable designation so happily accorded you "the 
Member for the Highlands." On the question which we, as representatives of the 
Celtic Societies throughout the country, have most at heart the interests of the Gaelic 
people you are undoubtedly entitled to that designation, and so long as you, the only 
Gaelic-speaking Member in the House of Commons, continue our representative, and 
act in the interests of the Highland people as you have done hitherto, you will always 
secure the sympathy and support of every genuine and true-spirited Highlander. 

We desire on this occasion to extend to you our hearty sympathy in your valuable 
advocacy of the Gaelic cause, and to offer you every encouragement in our power to 
persevere, until Gaelic shall, at least, occupy that place in our educational system 
which is already accorded to other ancient and modern languages, and until Highland 
education, as a whole, shall be such as to fit our youth for that position, both in our 
own and in other lands, which they are entitled to occupy. 

We tender you our hearty and sincere thanks for what you have already accom- 
plished for your Highland countrymen, and wish you long life and happiness, and that 
you may for many years to come be able to discharge the important duties of your 
position. 

These expressions of thanks and continued confidence we now most heartily accord 
to you, in the name and on behalf of our respective Societies ; and we remain, Sir, 
your obedient and faithful servants, 

(Signed) ALEXANDER SIMPSON, Chieftain of the Gaelic Society of Inver- 
ness, and Provost of the Burgh. 

WILLIAM MACKENZIE, Secretary of the Gaelic Society. 

COLIN CHISHOLM and 

A. MACKENZIE, for the Gaelic Society of London. 

DAVID MACDONALD, for Aberdeen Highland Association. 

A. MACPHAIL, Secretary for the Aberdeen Highland Association. 

A. MACKENZIE, for the Hebburn Highland Association." 

DONALD MACRAILD, Chief of the Greenock Ossianic Club, and 
Vice-President of the Greenock Highland Association. 

JOHN MACPHERSON, for the Edinburgh University Celtic Society. 

HENRY WHYTE, for Commun Gaidhealach Ghlaschu. 

WILLIAM SUTHERLAND, Vice-President of the Glasgow Suther- 
land Association. 

G. J. CAMPBELL, for the Edinburgh Sutherland Association. 

D. MACLACHAN, Secretary of the Ardnamurchan, Morven, and 
Suinart Association. 

ALEX. MACKENZIE, for the Glasgow Gael Lodge (Masonic), and 
for the Glasgow Lewis Association. 

Dr Macraild, who represented the Greenock Highland So- 
ciety, and the Greenock Ossianic Club, gave expression on the 
occasion, not only to the sentiments of his own constituents, but 
to those of all present and those they represented, in the follow- 
ing terms : " I have the honour," he said, " of conveying to you, 
Mr Charles Eraser-Mackintosh, their deep sentiments of gratitude, 
affection, and esteem for having exerted and distinguished your- 
self so signally in their behalf in your political capacity, your zeal 
for the honour and well-being of their country, and your lofty en- 



272 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

thusiasm for preserving and cherishing the ancient language 
which records the exploits of their heroic ancestors and must 
always remain the social tie of the Highland race. They also 
congratulate you on the fact that, in the face of difficulties and 
impediments where success would appear to be most unlikely, you, 
by your force of genius and tact, stimulated by genuine patriotism, 
conducted your undertaking step by step to a triumphant success." 

Immediately after the presentation of the address, Mr 
Fraser-Mackintosh presided at a meeting of the Representatives 
present, at which the " Federation of Celtic Societies " was in- 
augurated, and in the evening he was entertained to a public 
dinner by the leading citizens, without distinction of political 
creed, under the presidency of the Provost of Inverness, who 
again complimented him upon his valuable services to the whole 
Highlands of Scotland. 

On the 25th of July 1881, a special return was ordered by 
Parliament, on his motion, of the number of Gaelic-speaking 
people in Scotland. The Gaelic census of that year itself had 
not been secured without considerable pressure beforehand, and 
though the result is not nearly so accurate and full as it would 
have been had the Government listened to his original applica- 
tion in August 1880, it is very important, and deserves recognition. 

While addressing his constituents at Inverness on the I7th 
of October 1 877, he was asked by the writer of these lines if, in 
the following session, he would move for a Royal Commission to 
inquire into " The impoverished and wretched condition, and, in 
some places, the scarcity of men and women in the Highlands ; 
the cause of this state of things ; and the most effectual remedy 
for ameliorating the condition of the Highland crofters generally? " 
He replied that if such a demand " was strengthened by a general 
expression of feeling in its favour throughout the country," and 
" so pave the way for such a motion, he would be glad to make 
it." The Gaelic Society of Inverness took up the question on the 
5th of December following, discussing it at length on that evening, 
and at their next meeting on the I2th of the same month, when a 
motion was carried in favour of inquiry. The minute, as printed 
in the "Transactions of the Society," vol. vii., page 52, has now 
become interesting, and is as follows : " Mr Alexander Mac- 
kenzie moved ' That the Society petition Parliament for a Royal 
Commission to inquire into the condition of the Crofters in the 



CHARLES ERASER-MACKINTOSH, M.P. 273 

Highlands and Islands of Scotland, with a view of devising means 
for its amelioration.' Mr Wm. Mackay moved, as an amendment, 
' That in the meantime, and until further information is gathered 
as to the condition of the crofters, and until the Society is pre- 
pared to indicate what steps, if any, ought to be taken, the So- 
ciety do not petition Parliament' A vote having been taken, the 
Chairman, Mr Mackay of Benreay, declared Mr Mackenzie's 
motion carried by a large majority." This, the first petition on the 
subject, was duly presented to Parliament by Mr Eraser-Mackin- 
tosh, and from that day until the prayer of the petition was 
granted, he did everything in his power to obtain it. 

All this time petitions were being sent in from all parts of the 
Highlands in support of a Royal Commission to inquire into the 
state of the crofters. A large public meeting was held in Inver- 
ness, in December 1880, in favour of the movement, when Mr 
Eraser-Mackintosh occupied the chair, and made a telling 
speech in support of such an inquiry. Both in 1881 and 
1882 he gave notices of motion on the subject in the House of 
Commons, but failed to secure a suitable opportunity of formally 
moving them. He, however, constantly persevered, publicly and 
privately, to gain the object he had laid out for himself. 

He tried, in the House of Commons, to obtain trial by jury 
for the Braes crofters charged with deforcing the Sheriff- 
officers sent to remove them ; and, failing in this, he, with Dr 
Cameron and five other Scottish members of Parliament, on the 
9th of May 1882, addressed a powerful protest to the Times news- 
paper, against the conduct of the Crown authorities, in which it is 
declared that " many persons, who sympathise with the men, and 
desire that their case shall be fairly heard, openly accuse the Exe- 
cutive of resorting to unworthy means to obtain a conviction," and 
concluding by saying that the refusal of a trial by jury, " in this 
particular case, on grounds of public policy, seems particularly 
regretable, and we beg publicly to protest against it." In that 
act, it may be said, without the slightest fear of successful contra- 
diction, that he had the full sympathy and approval of the whole 
people, outside landlord and official circles. 

On the 22nd of February 1883, Mr Eraser-Mackintosh got 

up a memorial to the Home Secretary, in which, referring to 

what had recently occurred in the Isle of Skye, it is urged "that, 

i under existing circumstances, it is most important that a Royal 



274 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Commission of Inquiry into the condition of the crofter and 
rural population of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland should 
be granted by the Government without delay." This memorial 
was signed by twenty-one Scottish Members, Mr Fraser-Mack- 
intosh being the only Highland representative whose name was 
adhibited, though all the others had an opportunity to sign it. It 
was sent to the Home Office on the following day, accompanied 
by a long letter urging, for reasons stated, that a Commission 
should be granted at once. This expression of opinion had the 
desired effect, and intimation was given that a Royal Commission 
would be immediately granted. Mr Fraser-Mackintosh was, as 
a matter of course, a member of it; and the manner in which he 
justified that position by his subsequent action, in the interest of 
the Highland people, is so fresh in the memory of all, that any- 
thing like detailed reference here is quite unneccessary. No one 
knows better than the present writer the great anxiety and 
difficulty of Mr Eraser-Mackintosh's position, and the endless 
trouble and i'nconvenience to which he was put to enable him to 
get at the facts, from witnesses, most of whom were afraid to tell 
what they knew ; but the time has not yet arrived for stating 
these difficulties in detail. This much, however, may and ought 
to be said, (i) that to him credit is largely due for securing that 
the stories of the Crofters themselves were so fully brought out, 
and presented in their simplicity to the Commission ; (2) that 
the effect of hostile questions was generally neutralised by re- 
examination ; and (3) that the carefully prepared rebutting state- 
ments of factors and other estate officials, who generally managed 
to secure the great advantage of having the last word, were, then 
and there, inquired into, and had their general one-sidedness and 
inaccuracy exposed. 

If no other immediate good should come of the Commission, 
and of Mr Fraser-Mackintosh's labours, than the mere placing 
of the evidence taken before the world, the author of it will have 
made for himself a name in the history of the country, and will, 
more than ever, deserve his well-earned titles of " The Member 
for the Highlands," and The Crofter's Friend. 

In July 1876 he married Eveline May, only child of Richard 
D. Holland, of Brooklands, Surrey, and of Kilvean, Inverness, 
by his late wife, Helen, daughter of John Macgregor, for many 
years resident in Charter House Square, London. A. M. 



275 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 
BY ALEXANDER MACBAIN, M.A., F.S.A. SCOT. 

XII. WELSH AND GAELIC ELYSIUM. 

THE Welsh Hades was known as Annwn. It possessed kings, 
chiefs, and commons, somewhat like those of this world, only 
vastly superior " the comeliest and best equipped people ever 
seen." Pwyll, Prince of Dyved (South-west Wales), while one 
day out hunting, lost his companions in his eager pursuit of a 
stag. Hearing a cry of hounds near him, he approached, and saw 
the stag brought down by other dogs than his own. " Then he 
looked at the colour of the dogs, staying not to look at the stag, and 
of all the hounds that he had seen in the world, he had never seen 
any that were like unto these. For their hair was of a brilliant 
shining white, and their ears were red ; and as the whiteness of 
their bodies shone, so did the redness of their ears glisten." He 
drove them from the stag, and set on it his own dogs. Immedi- 
ately there came upon him a man dressed all in grey and mounted 
on a grey horse, and he reviled Pwyll for his discourtesy in turn- 
ing off his hounds. Pwyll offered to make reparation, and his 
offer was accepted. The stranger said that he was Arawn, King 
of one-half of Annwn, and he was at war with Havgan, the other 
King. Pwyll, if he liked, could overthrow Havgan, who was to 
come exactly a year thereafter against Arawn. Would Pwyll 
change places with him and meet Havgan? He would give him 
his own personal appearance, and assume Pwyll's, and they could 
govern each other's kingdoms for a year. This was agreed on. 
Pywll took the form of Arawn, and came to Annwn. He never 
saw anything like the beauty of Arawn's city and the appoint- 
ments of his court, " which of all the courts on earth was the best 
supplied with food and drink, and vessels of gold and royal 
jewels." Suffice it to say that he ruled well during the year, and 
at the end of it slew Havgan, " at the ford," in single combat, 
and thus made Arawn undisputed master of Hades. Arawn had, 
meanwhile, conducted the kingdom of Dyved as it never had 
been before ; his wisdom and justice were unsurpassable. And 



276 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

these two kings made an eternal bond of friendship with each 
other, and Pywll was called " Chief of Annwn " henceforward. 

The dogs of Annwn, mentioned in the above tale, are a com- 
mon feature in mythology. Ossian, on his way to Tir-nan-og, 
saw a hornless fawn bounding nimbly along the wave-crests 
pursued by a white hound with red ears. The Wild Huntsman 
and his dogs of Teutonic myth belong to the same category ; and 
these dogs of Annwn were similarly said to rush through the air, 
and evil was the omen. These are, undoubtedly, the wind-dogs 
of Hermes, the conductor of souls ; the Wild Huntsman is none 
other than Odin,* sweeping up the souls of the dead in his path. 
Annwn, or the Lower Regions, possess, in the myth, the same 
characteristics as this world ; only things are on a grander scale 
there altogether. The other reference of importance to this 
Earthly Other-world is in the story of Arthur. Dying on the 
battle-field of Camlan, he is carried away to heal of his wounds to 
" the vale of Avilion," which Tennyson, catching the true idea of 
the Welsh mythic paradise, describes thus : Arthur, dying, speaks 
to Bedivere ; 

" I am going a long way 
To the island-valley of Avilion ; 
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, 
Nor ever wind blows loudly ; but it lies 
Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard lawns 
And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea." 

And here Arthur still lives on, destined one day to appear and 
set free his Cambrians from the hateful yoke of the Saxon. 

The myths in Ireland bearing on the existence of a happy 
western land are very numerous and important. The names 
given to this land vary, but they have a general reference to 
happiness, all save the name Tir-fa-tonn, the % " Under-wave 
Land." The names generally met with are Tir Tairngire, "Land 
of Promise"; Mag Mell, "Plains of Happiness"; Tir-nam-beo, 
" Land of the Living "; Tir-nin-og, " Land of the Young "; and 
O'Breasail, " ^reasal's Isle." Whether there is any distinction 
implied in the^e names cannot well be said. There would seem 
to be somethi ^ of a difference between the Under-wave Land 
and the Plains o" Happiness; the latter may have rather been 
the abode of the- gods, where Manannan lived with Fann his 
wife, as the myths have it. Tir-fa-tonn looks rather like the 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 277 

Gaelic Hades, the abode of the dead. The Gaelic version of 
Diarmat's sojourn there gives strong colour to such a supposition, 
and the early Middle Age. legends in regard to St Patrick's 
Purgatory below Lough Dearg the precursors of Dante and 
Milton's descriptions lend great countenance to such a distinc- 
tion between Tir-fa-tonn and Mag Mell. 

The myths may be grouped in three divisions. There are, 
first, the myths where a mortal is summoned, in an enchanting 
song, by a fairy being who has fallen in love with the mortal, to a 
land of beauty and happiness and ever-youthful life ; second, 
there are myths which tell how a hero has, Ulysses-like, paid a 
business visit to the other world ; and, thirdly, the accounts of 
many voyages of discovery in search of the Happy Isles, and the 
" Traveller's Tales " of the wonders seen. To the first class 
belong three very remarkable Irish myths: the Courtship of 
Etain, the Story of Condla Cam, and Ossian in Tir-nan-og 
The outline of the story is as follows : There suddenly appears 
before a kingly company a fairy being who chants, for some 
particular person in the company loved by the fairy, a song de- 
scriptive of the glories and pleasures of the Land of the Ever- 
young. The person so addressed cannot choose but love the 
fairy, and go to the wonderful land. In Ossian's case alone have 
we got an account of the career of the enchanted one in Tir-nan- 
og. Niam of the Golden Hair suddenly presents herself before 
the Feni, tells her love for Ossian, and says: " I place you under 
obligations which no true heroes break through to come with 
me on my white steed to Tir-nan-og, the most delightful and 
renowned country under the sun. Jewels and gold there are in 
abundance, and honey and wine ; the trees bear fruit and blos- 
soms and green leaves all the year round. Feasting and music 
and harmless pastimes are there each day. You will get a hun- 
dred swords, and robes of richest loom; a hundred steeds, and 
hounds of keenest scent; numberless herds, and sheep with 
flecres of gold ; a hundred maioens merry and young, sweeter 

of mouth than the music of birds; a hundred uits of armour, 

P 

and a sword, gold handled, that never missed a stroke. Decline 
shall not come on you, nor death, nor decay. ' ihese, and much 
more that passeth all mention, shall be yours and myself as your 
wife!" Needless is it to recount how O ;;m went, the wonders he 

T 



278 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

saw by the way, and the feats he did; how he found Tir-nan-og all 
that it was painted by the Princess Niam; how, after three hundred 
years, he returned to earth on the white steed, from whose back 
he was forbidden to dismount; how he fell from the steed when 
helping the poor weakly mortals that he found then on earth to 
raise a huge stone ; and how the steed rushed off and left him, 
old and withered and blind, " among little men." 

Visits of the nature of that undertaken by Ulysses, in 
Homer, to the Land of Shades, were made by at least three 
great champions of the Gael. These are Cuchulainn, Cormac 
Mac Art, and Diarmat O' Duinn. We have already referred to 
Cuchulainn's helping of Fand, wife of Manannan. The story 
says that, like a wise man, Cuchulainn, when invited to assist 
Fand, deserted as she was by her husband, sent his charioteer 
Loeg to " prospect " and report as to the safety of such a journey. 
Loeg and his fairy guide " proceeded until they reached the side 
of the island, when they saw the bronze skiff waiting for them. 
They then stepped on to the ship and landed on the island." 
There they found Fand and her father waiting them. Professor 
Rhys very properly compares this passage to the well-known 
boat and ferry of Charon in classical mythology. " There can be 
no mistake," he says, " as to its [the Isle of the Blest] being the 
Elysium of the dead, and that going into it meant nothing less 
than death to ordinary mortals ; it was only by special favour 
that a mortal might enter it otherwise." Passing over Cormac 
Mac Art's visit to Manannan, and rescue from death of his wife 
and two children, we find a double account of Diarmat's visit to 
Tir-fa-tonn one Irish, one Gaelic. The Irish one is in its main 
features the counterpart of the Welsh Mabinogion, " The Lady 
of the Fountain." Diarmat fights with the Knight of the 
Fountain, and in wrestling with him they both fall into the 
fountain. Diarmat, arriving at the bottom of it, finds himself in 
a most beautiful territory, where he does many deeds of valour, 
and helps a distressed prince to a throne. The Highland tale 
represents him as sheltering a loathly creature that turns out to 
be a most beautiful lady under spells. She is the danghter of 
the King of the Land under the Waves. After presenting 
Diarmat with a fairy castle, and living with him some time, she 
left him for her own country, a slight quarrel having occurred. 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 279 

He followed her, crossed on the " Charon " boat, much as already 
described in Loeg's case, and arrived at an island, where down 
went the boat to a land under the sea ! Here Diarmat found his 
love, but she was deadly sick, to be cured only by a drink from 
a magical cup in the possession of the King of Wonderland. 
This he procured by the help of "the messenger of the other 
world," who advised him to have nothing to do with the King's 
silver or gold, or even with the daughter, an advice which Diarmat 
took, for after healing her, " he took a dislike to her." Diarmat, 
therefore, was allowed to return from the realms of death. 

The " Voyagers' Tales " of Ireland can compare for sensuous 
imagination very favourably with any other country's "Travellers' 
Tales." Naturally enough, the tales deal altogether with sea- 
voyages, generally to some western islands, and they must and 
do contain many reminiscences of the Happy Isles, where the 
dead live and the gods reign. Despite the monkish garb they 
at times assume, for two of the most important are undertaken 
by monks, the old heathenism peeps out at every turn. Some- 
times we hear of a man living in a happy island with the souls of 
all his descendants as birds giving music around, him. Some- 
times we get a glimpse of the earthly paradise, where the travel- 
lers saw, " a great number of people, beautiful and glorious-look- 
ing, wearing rich garments adorned and radiant all over, feasting 
joyously and drinking from embossed vessels of red gold. The 
voyagers also heard their cheerful festive songs, and they mar- 
velled greatly, and their hearts were full of gladness at all the 
happiness they saw and heard. But they did not venture to 
land." They pass occasionally into the regions of spirits, and are 
brought into contact with the living and the dead. The wonders 
they meet with often point a moral, for there are punishments 
for wickedness. On one island was found a man digging with a 
spade, the handle of which was on fire, for on earth he was accus- 
tomed to dig on Sunday. On another island was found a burly 
miller feeding his mill with all the perishable things of which 
people are " so choice and niggardly in this world." Islands of 
lamentation and islands of laughing are visited ; gorgeous palaces 
and towns, both above and below the waves, are seen, and duly 
described. The principal voyagers \\ ere St Brendan, the sons of 
Ua Corra and Maelduin. 

No argument as to the character or the inhabitants of the 



280 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

next world can be drawn from the modern names given to it. 
Flaithemnas or, Gaelic, Flaitheamhnas, meant "glory" in its 
original sense, being derived from the word " Flaithem," a lord, 
with the abstract termination as. " Innis," an island, forms no 
part of the word, so that the old derivation and its consequent 
theories " Island of chiefs " fall to the ground. In the same 
way do the many weird speculations upon the place of pain, fail. 
Uffern, in Welsh, and Ifrinn or lutharn, in Gaelic, are both 
borrowed from the Latin word, Infernum, much to the misfortune 
of those Druidic theories that make the Celtic hell an " Isle of 
the Cold Waves." Both Flaitheamhnas and Ifrinn are Christian 
ideas, and have no counterpart in the Pagan Mythology of the 
Celts. Our Celtic myths warrant us to speak but of an earthly 
Paradise, a home of sensuous ease for the departed soul. The 
glimpses of places of woe in the " Voyagers' Tales" are too much 
inspired by Christian thought to render speculation upon the 
Celtic "prison-house" for the soul possible. 

What character of body did the spirits of the dead possess, 
according to the opinions of the Celts? The sensuous paradise 
argues a material body capable of both physical enjoyments and 
sorrows. The gods, of course, had bodies somewhat analogous to 
those of men ; these bodies were celestial, but yet quite as sub- 
stantial as human bodies. The difference was that they were not 
subject to the trammels of gravitation and visibility, unless they 
chose. Their persons were more beautiful and majestic than 
those of men; a "sublimated" humanity characterised them. 
They appeared among mortals sometimes all of a sudden in the 
midst of an assembly; ate, drank, and acted, like mortals, in every 
respect. Sometimes they were seen only by one person in the 
company, though heard by all, as in the story of Condla Cam, 
whom the fairy enchanted and abducted. These are, however, 
the Pagan gods as seen in Christian myth. Yet we find the 
ghosts of departed heroes appearing in much the same way as the 
Side and Tuatha-De-Danann. The ghost of Caoilte is met with in 
one or two myths representing different times in St Patrick's 
time and King Mongan's time and on each occasion he appears 
in "his habit as he lived," full of life and colour, not pale and 
shadowy. Besides, these ghosts can appear in the day time, as 
Caoilte used to do. The great poem of the Tain Bo Chuailgne 
had been lost by the 6th century and it could be recovered only 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 281 

by raising its composer, Fergus MacRoy, from the dead. And 
this the Saints of Erin were able to accomplish. " Fergus him- 
self," we are told, "appeared in a beautiful form, adorned 
with brown hair, clad in a green cloak, and wearing a collared 
gold-ribbed shirt, a gold-hilted sword, and sandals of bronze." 
He was evidently a very substantial apparition! St Patrick was 
also able, though indirectly, to raise the spirit of the great 
Cuchulainn himself, to meet King Loegaire. The famous cham- 
pion appeared to him one morning splendidly dressed, with his 
chariot, horses, and charioteer, the same as when alive. All is 
minutely described : the charioteer, for instance, was a " lank, 
tall, stooped, freckle-faced man. He had curling reddish hair 
upon his head. He had a circlet of bronze upon his forehead 
which kept his hair from his face ; and cups of gold upon his poll 
behind, into which his hair coiled ; a small winged cape on him, 
with its buttoning at his elbows ; a goad of red gold in his hand, 
by which he urged his horses." 

The substantial ghosts of dead he'roes are in the myths 
generally classed as Side, among whom also the gods were classed. 
This, of course, arose from a confusion. The Side,\ take it, were 
the ghosts of the glorious dead dwelling in their barrows or 
tumuli (the sid.} At these barrows, doubtless, they were wor- 
shipped in accordance with the customs of ancestor worship. 
This cannot be proved with satisfaction from the Gaelic myths 
alone, but if we refer to the belief and rites of the Norse peoples, 
we shall see plenty evidence of the worship of the dead in their 
barrows. In the Land nama-bok we read that at one place 
" there was a harrow (' high place ') made there, and sacrifices 
began to be performed there, for they believed that they died unto 
these hills." The editors of the lately published work " Corpus 
Poeticum Boreali " bring forward quite an array of evidence in 
proof of the sacredness of these " houses " and barrows, and the 
belief that dead ancestors lived another life there, and took an 
interest in the living. " Of the spirit life and the behaviour of 
the dead," they say, " there is some evidence. In the older ac- 
counts they are feasting happily, and busying themselves with 
the good of their living kindred, with whom they are still united 

in intense sympathy Of the ritual names of the 

worshipped dead, the oldest we know is ' Anse,' which survived 
in Iceland into the Middle Ages, in the sense of guardian spirit 



282 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

or genius of a hill. ' Elf is another name used of spirits of the 
dead of divine spirits generally as the ' Anses ' and the ' Elves ' 
of Loka-Senna. Later, in Christian times, it sinks in Scandinavia 
to mean ' fairy.' .... There were evil spirits spirits of 
bad men and even vampires and the like, such as the dreadful 
glam and unhallowed spirits and monsters." We may thus 
argue that the Side or Aes-side (compare Anse or Aesir above) 
were properly the divine ancestors, and that the gods, originally 
in Pagan times quite distinct from them, were afterwards confused 
with the " side," as we have them in the myths. But a still 
greater confusion overtook these names and ideas as time and 
Christianity advanced. The " side " got mixed up with the 
"elves," the earth and wood powers, just as they did among the 
Norse ; and the modern " sith " is a mixture of tumulus-dweller 
and wood-nymph. The gods have almost entirely left the 
scene ; only the Lares the Gruagachs and Brownies are left. Of 
old, among the Pagan-Gael, there were, doubtless, ghosts some- 
what analagous to those of present superstitions, but they were 
clearly those of unhallowed men, as we have seen in the case of 
the Norse beliefs. The modern ghosts follow the analogy of the 
dwellers in the Greek Hades, and not of the inhabitants of the 
Earthly Paradise of the Gaels, that " Land of the Leal " where 
the sun sinks in the west. They grew up during the Middle Ages 
under the shadow of the Roman Church. 

(To be continued.) 



HISTORICAL CHAIRS. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

SIR, Will you kindly enable me to ask, through the columns of your journal, for 
descriptive particulars, with engravings, drawings, or photographs of celebrated chairs 
in family residences of the nobility and gentry ; with information, also, of notable 
chairs in cathedrals, churches, colleges, town-halls, and public institutions at home or 
abroad. I am preparing an illustrated account of Historical Chairs, from available 
literary sources, but knowing that there are many interesting ones which have 
escaped my search, as well as some others in private possession but little known, and 
wishing to make the proposed work as copious as possible, I thus beg your esteemed 
assistance on that behalf, with my best thanks for such valuable favour. 
Letters to be addressed to 

C. B. STRUIT, 
34 East Street, Red Lion Square, London, W.C. 



283 



HENRY GEORGE AT INVERNESS. 

DEAN OF GUILD MACKENZIE, anticipating that his position and 
remarks, as chairman at Mr Henry George's recent lecture in 
Inverness, would be misrepresented by interested parties, took 
the precaution to secure a verbatim report of what he said from 
two professional reporters. In the circumstances, he thinks it 
best that this report should be placed at the disposal of the 
readers of the Celtic Magazine. Mr Henry George's views are 
already before the public ; and it is to be hoped that the action 
of the Highland proprietors will be wisely guided in such a direc- 
tion as will make the adoption by the people of such extreme 
remedies as he purposes, not only impossible, but quite un- 
necessary. Introducing the Lecturer, Mr Mackenzie said : 

Gentlemen, I have been pressed to take the chair. (Cheers.) Highlanders were 
always celebrated for their hospitality (applause) they have always shown the greatest 
courtesy and civility to strangers coming amongst them. (Applause.) I am satisfied 
that I need not ask an Inverness audience the men of the Capital of the Highlands 
to extend these characteristics of the race to the gentleman who is about to address us. 
Mr George is a gentleman who has the distinguished honour of having been highly 
abused by almost everybody at any rate, on one side of the house from the Marquis 
of Salisbury down to the lowest rag of newspaper in the country. (Applause and 
hisses. ) But abuse is not confined to that side ; we have had abuse from very dis- 
tinguished gentlemen on the other bide. (Hear, hear.) I think it may fairly be 
assumed that when a gentleman whoever he may be succeeds in bringing upon 
himself the abuse of such great men, and such a large number of them, it is unmistake- 
able proof that he is distinguished, and is doing some good. (Applause.) A man, of 
whose book, " Progress and Poverty," a quarter of a million has been sold in about a 
year a number of any book, I believe, almost unprecedented in Great Britain 
(Hear, hear, and cheers) must be a man worth listening to, whether we agree with 
him or not. (Cheers.) It is possible that Mr Henry George is an extreme man on 
one side of the house, and we have gentlemen of extreme opinions on the other side ; 
but here (pointing to himself) is the happy medium for you. (Applause, laughter, and 
hisses.) I beg to introduce to you Mr Henry George. (Loud cheers, and slight hisses. ) 

In moving a vote of thanks, the Chairman said 

Gentlemen, I think that you will all agree that we have just listened to a very 
powerful and interesting address. (Cheers and hear.) I am quite sure that whatever 
our opinions may be, we will all admit that the address was interesting, and calcu- 
lated to lead to thoughtfulness on the question discussed. There are many here who 
possibly came to be instructed ; others, as they thought, to be amused. (Laughter.) 
Perhaps the lecturer has not converted the whole of us. (Laughter.) [Mr George 
I hope you will convert yourselves.] (Cheers.) Mr Mackenzie But at any rate, 
ladies and gentlemen for I am glad to see a few ladies present- (cheers) I think 



284 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

you will all admit that you have heard a discussion which is worthy of the considera- 
tion the weighty and careful consideration not only of every one here but also of 
every one who has arrived at maturity throughout the whole Highlands of Scotland. 
(Cheers.) Mr George appears to me to be like some of those pioneers who have pre- 
ceded great events in the history of this country. (Cheers and interruption. ) I have 
already said, in my opening remarks, that he has secured for himself the abuse of both 
sides of the house, and of almost every newspaper in the country and, I say again, 
that the man who has succeeded in doing that must be doing some good (cheers) 
and I must confess that I greatly envy him that position. (Laughter.) I consider 
that a man who has attained to such a position is, depend upon it, a felt power in the 
country (cheers) and a power which I would strongly urge upon my friends, the 
Highland lairds, to take very carefully and very seriously into their consideration 
(cheers) because I know that nothing would please men of his calibre of the 
earnestness and intellectual power that you have seen displayed this evening 
I say that there is nothing in the world men like Mr Henry George would like 
so much to see as the Highland landlords being stubborn and shutting their 
eyes to what is going on, until that revolution, which has become inevitable, shall 
come upon them when they least expect it. If the landlords would only take my 
advice, which, I fear, they are not at all likely to do (laughter) I would strongly 
advise them to come my length at once, or else the probability is that before many years 
they will have to go the length of Mr Henry George. (Hear, hear. ) Look at what is 
going on around us. To me it appears as clear as the sun at noonday that there is no 
question whatever that something will have to be done. (Cheers.) But I hold that 
it is fair and just that compensation should be given if it be found necessary to take 
the land in the interest of the whole public. Many of us are of that opinion now, but 
if the landlords hold out and refuse to make concessions, I have no hesitation in pre- 
dicting that the great mass of the people will not stop where they now are, 
but will go over and follow Mr Henry George. (Cheers and hisses.) I would 
fain hope to get a little of the ear of even the Highland proprietors on this question 
before the people are carried any further. The atmosphere is being cleared in a great 
measure. (Cheers.) I have had it dinned into my ears over and over again during 
the last fortnight that Mr Henry George was advocating the proposal of having the 
land divided into squares (laughter) giving a square to this man and that man, but 
as Mr George himself told you to-night he proposes to do nothing of the kind. That 
would be an insane proposal (hear, hear) and in Mr George's case that false view 
of his position is only derived from those absurd one-sided newspaper articles, written 
by people who never read his great book, and which cannot be depended upon, and a 
class of one-sided reports which no one here has suffered from more than I have done 
myself (cheers and laughter) reports where you only get the bit that tells against 
you, or what suits the view of newspapers looking at the subject from a different stand- 
point. They just report what suits them or what makes the speaker appear ridiculous.* 
Mr Henry George tells you that he does not want to take the land from the landlords. 
(Oh, and laughter.) What he wants is that the increased revenues produced by your 
energies in town and country should be directed from the landlords and made the pro- 

* When the above statement was spoken it could not be anticipated that it would 
be so soon and so completely illustrated and confirmed by the one-sided reports which 
appeared in our local party papers of the political meetings recently held at Stornoway, 
and the angry correspondence, from the various persons aggrieved, addressed to the 
respective editors. And yet the public are expected not only to pay for these partisan 
reports, but also to continue to believe them and those who supply them ! The prac- 
tice is becoming lamentably common amongst us. 



HENRY GEORGE AT INVERNESS. 285 

perty of the people who produce the wealth of the country. Take as an illustration the 
neighbourhood of Inverness. The landed estates in the immediate vicinity are 
improving in value every day, by and through the enterprise of the citizens of 
Inverness extending the town in every direction. Who should reap the benefit 
of this increased revenue, those who create it the people of Inverness or the 
proprietors of land in the neighbourhood? (hear, hear) asks Mr Henry George. 
They should not get it he says ; it should all go to the reduction of the taxes to the whole 
of the people of Inverness who have created it in the form of reduced rates. (Cheers. ) 
This may be right or it may be wrong, but as I apprehend it, this is what Mr Henry 
George wishes us to understand. (Applause ; and indications of assent from Mr 
George. ) And, now, permit me to say, and I think you will admit it, that it requires a 
great deal of moral courage on my part to stand where I stand to-night. (Hear, hear, 
cheers, and laughter.) I know that there are many here prominent citizens, too 
who are far more extreme on this question than I am, but who are afraid of their 
shadows, and dare not give public expression to their opinions. (Laughter and cheers.) 
This state of matters will continue, unless leaders are backed up by Associations, and 
by public opinion. I, myself, even had considerable hesitation in taking the chair 
this evening, but I am now glad that I have done it -(loud cheers) and I say with- 
out hesitation that any man in trade taking this position would almost be certain to be 
ruined in his business, if landlord influence, and lawyer influence, speaking generally, 
coulddoit. (Cheers.) But thank goodness they cannot touch me in my business (Cheers.) 
I hope that we shall be a little more outspoken in future. As you all know, I am suffer- 
ing persecution at this moment at the hands of landlord representatives and agents in 
the Town Council of Inverness, admittedly because of the position I have taken up 
because of the stand I have made in connection with the condition of the Highland 
people. (Hear, hear.) But let them persecute me till they are black in the face. 
(Cheers.) The more they try to put me down, the more determinedly and the more 
strongly I shall speak out on this question, in the interest of my fellow countrymen. 
(Loud cheers.) Now, ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to join in according a most 
hearty vote of thanks to Mr Henry George. (Loud and prolonged cheers.) 



PEER MEN AND THEIR RELATIONS. 

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

SIR, I have just been reading "The Gaelic Etymology of the Languages of 
Western Europe, etc.," by Dr Charles Mackay, and I find under the word Hearse 
the following : " The origin is the French herce, a harrow, an instrument which in 
France is made in a triangular form. Hence the name of /terse or herche was given 
to a triangular frame-work of iron for holding a number of candles at funerals and 
church ceremonies." 

Now, I must claim this herse this " triangular frame-work of iron for holding a 
number of candles" as a relation of my " Peer Men." I would greatly like to get 
more information about this instrument, and if possible to see one, if any be still in 
existence. I don't know where I am more likely to get the information I want about 
the herse or herche than from the readers of the Celtic Magazine, so as you have 
befriended the " Peer Men" before both Mrs Mary Mackellar's and mine I am 
sure, if you have space at all in the Celtic Magazine for March you will let this short 
appeal for "more light" appear. lam, &c., JAMES LINN. 

Geological Survey, Keith, I4th February 1884. 

[This letter was crushed out of the March issue.] 



286 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE 



THE ENGLISH POETICAL WORKS OF EVAN MAC COLL, Author of 
" Clarsach nam Beann," with a Biographical Sketch of the Author, by A. 
MACKENZIE, F.S.A., Scot. Toronto : Rose & Co. Edinburgh : Maclachlan 
and Stewart, Inverness : A. & W. Mackenzie. 

HIGHLANDERS have so long been familiar with the name of Evan MacColl, " the Loch- 
fyne Bard, " that it will, no doubt, create surprise in the minds of many readers to be 
informed that this is a complete collection of his English poems, issued under the impri- 
matur and the careful revision of the veteran poet himself, who still, in his seventy- 
sixth year, we are pleased to say, enjoys the "gloaming of life" in happy content 
in the bosom of his family in the great Dominion of Canada. It is interesting to note 
that Mr MacColl is the only member now living of that galaxy of Gaelic poets whose 
productions found a place in John Mackenzie's great and excellent collection of Gaelic 
poetry, " Sar Obair nam Bard Gaidhealach. " The compiler of that work very highly 
appreciated the poetic gifts of our author, and, speaking of his compositions, pays him 
the following high tribute, to which we subscribe our hearty amen : 

" MacColl ranks very high as a poet. His English pieces, which are out of our 
way, possess great merit. . His Gaelic productions are chiefly amorous, and indicate a 
mind of the most tender sensibilities and refined taste. The three poems annexed to 
this notice are of a very superior order ; one of them comes under that denomination 
of poetry ca.\\e& pastoral or descriptive, and evinces powers of delineation, a felicity of 
conception, and a freshness of ideality not equalled in modern times. The second is 
an elegiac piece, before whose silver, mellifluent tones we melt away, and are glad to 
enjoy the luxury of tears with the weeping Muse. The love ditty is a natural gush of 
youthful affection, better calculated to show us the aspirations of the heart than the 
most elaborate productions of art. MacColl imitates no poet, he has found enough in 
Nature to instruct him he moves majestically in a hitherto untraversed path ; and, 
if we are not continually in rapture with him, we never tire never think long in his 
company. But we are reminded that praise bestowed on a living author subjects us 
to the imputation of flattery long may it be ere Evan MacColl is the subject of any 
posthumous meed of laudation from us !" 

The panegyrist in this extract dismisses the English pieces as being "out of his 
way," but in the work before us now it is the English productions of Mr MacColl 
alone that are in our way, and we could scarcely express our opinion of them in more 
appropriate terms than the talented and tasteful editor of the " Beauties " applied to 
the Gaelic poems which evoked his enthusiastic admiration. In saying this, we do 
not wish to imply that all the pieces found in this collection are up to the high stand- 
ard which Mr MacColl has fixed for himself, and which he so frequently attains to. 
A number of them are mere ephemeral and impromptu rhymes called into existence by 
some event of comparatively little importance, and probably considered by his muse 
unworthy of her wonted attention. There are, however, in the book a very large 
number of compositions of great merit, some of which are worthy of living side by 
side with the shorter compositions of Shelley and the lyrical effusions of Burns. Mr 
MacColl's poems belong more to the subjective school than those of Highland poets 
in general. Their works are, for the most part, descriptive or hortatory in their 
character ; Mr MacColl's are of a much higher order, and are, in a great degree, a 
reflex of the thoughts and feelings of a mind strung to a high pitch of admiration of 
the works of Nature and an appreciation and assimilation of the lessons of all that is 
beautiful and true and good in the world-life around him. 

There are various pieces in the book which we might point out as exemplifica' 
tions of his style, but we should prefer that the reader should procure the book for 



POETICAL WORKS OF EVAN MACCOLL. 287 

himself. Mr MacColl has travelled much in all parts of the Highlands of Scotland, 
and there is scarcely a quarter of the country that has not furnished some scene to 
move his harp strings. The Findhorn receives neat and graceful treatment in a short 
and musical composition, designed for the album of Lady Gordon-Gumming of 
Altyre. Here are some of its stanzas : 

" Findhorn the Beautiful ! 

Fain would I sing thee ; 
Praise is the dutiful 
Homage I bring thee. 

' ' Child of the Mist and Snow, 

Nursed 'mong the mountains, 
Well loves the red deer to 
Drink at thy fountains. 

" Glassing the skies above, 

Yonder thou glidest ; 

Now, in some piny grove, 

Sudden thou hidest. 

r 

" Here, with a rushing might, 

Rocks thou art rounding ; 

There, like a flash of light, 

Over them bounding !" 

Glen-Urquhart justly evokes intense admiration, but it is scarcely fair to depreciate 
Stratherrick to supply a dark background for setting off the author's fairy picture. 
Addressing the Glen, he says 

" Hail, thou Arcadia of the North ! 

Glen-Urquhart lovely, well I trow 
Yon sun above thee ne'er looked forth 
On any landscape fair as thou. 

" When Nature's seeming negligence 

Left rough Stratherrick what we see, 
Meseems as if in recompense 
She made a paradise of thee ! 

When admiring the beauties of his native Highlands, Mr MacColl does not forget 
her worthy sons. In verses addressed to Mr J. F. Campbell of Islay, our poet 
compliments that worthy Celt in language that is as true in fact as it is beautifully ex- 
pressed : 

" What though a stranger lords it now 

O'er that fair isle so dear to thee, 
Still lord o'er all its hearts art thou 
The land alone hath he. 

" Fortune hath wronged thee much yet still 

A heritage more rich remains 
Than any subject to her will 
Thy place in Thought's domains. " 

The gem of Mr MacColl's book we take to be its opening piece, "A May Morning in 



288 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Glen-Shira." True to her Celtic character his muse seems to revel with special de- 
light among the scenes of the poet's early youth. We give a few stanzas : 
" Lo, dawning o'er yon mountain grey 

The rosy birth-day of the May ! 
Glen-Shira knoweth well 'tis Beltane's blissful day. 

" Hark ! from yon grove that thrilling gush 
Of song from linnet, merle, and thrush ! 
To hear herself so praised, the morning well may blush. 

" O May ! thou'rt an enchantress rare 

Thy presence maketh all things fair ; 
Thou wavest but thy wand, and joy is everywhere. 

" Thou comest and the clouds are not 

Rude Boreas has his wrath forgot 
The gossamer again is in the air afloat. 

" The foaming torrent from the hill 

Thou changest to a gentle rill 
A thread of liquid pearl, that faintly murmurs still. 

" Around me in this dewy den 

Wild flowers imparadise the scene- 
Some look up to the Sun his worshippers, I ween." 

The volume is prefaced by a short biographical sketch of the author by the Editor of 
the Celtic Magazine. The pleasing fact that Mr MacColl is alive and hearty, leaves the 
biography happily unfinished. Long may it be ere any equally enthusiastic admirer 
will be called upon to add the final chapter. The volume is very neatly got up, 
and is one that ought to be in every Highlander's library. The author deserves it ; 
the poetry merits it; and the book will be in every respect an ornament, and ought 
to be a treasure in the possession of the sons of the Gael wherever located. We trust soon 
to welcome .a complete collection of Mr MacColl's Gaelic poems, now, we understand, 
passing through the press. 



THE HISTORY OF CIVILISATION IN SCOTLAND. By JOHN 
MACKINTOSH. Vol. III. Aberdeen : A. Brown & Co. 



MR MACKINTOSH, in the third volume of his " History of Civilisation in Scotland," 
deals practically with the seventeenth century epoch, the period between the union of 
the Crowns and the union of the Parliaments. He does, indeed, give the History of 
Scotland down to the end of the Rebellion of 1745, because he believes the separate 
" political " history of Scotland ends there ; and in the next, which is also the last 
volume, he will deal only with the social, religious, and philosophical aspects of 
Scottish history. At the period at which Mr Mackintosh takes up the thread of his 
narrative in this volume, King James the VI. was firmly established on the 



CIVILISATION IN SCOTLAND. 289 

English Throne. The kingdom had passed through the struggle between the King 
and the oligarchy, which almost all the European nations of Aryan descent had to 
undergo, but without the kingly power yielding finally to the power of the nobles. 
In fact, under James, the Royal prerogative was more firmly established than ever. 
This was due to the despotic power bequeathed him by the Tudors from the ex- 
hausting Wars of the Roses ; a power which he extended over Scotland from his 
wider and more independent sway, acquired by his position as King of England. He 
was, therefore, enabled with comparatively little resistance to introduce more than the 
edge of the Episcopal wedge into Scottish ecclesiastical matters ; but this he did, not by 
force, but by his acquired Imperial position and his cunning. Charles, his son, was a 
more honest but far rasher man, and he soon ran tilt against the prejudices of the 
people by his bold innovations. The incident in St Giles' Cathedral, when 
Jenny Geddes threw the^stool at the prelate's head, was one of the turning points of 
the struggle. The great English King was set at defiance ; a covenant was signed 
by- the Scottish Presbyterians which it defied the King to overthrow. Cromwell 
allowed the Scots to have their own way, after punishing them for their allegiance to 
the youthful prince. But when that prince was restored to his throne he entered into 
a most cruel persecution of theTPresbyterian Church as short-sighted and disgraceful 
a persecution as exists in any history. It is quite astonishing how they did not 
succumb to such a fearful and exterminating process. The only good result we may 
claim from it is its effect on the Scottish character. There is little question that 
the sturdy individualism characteristic of the Scot, is due to the history of the seven- 
teenth contury. His constant appeal to private judgment, his conservatism in 
matters relating to religion itself, and his determined liberalism in regard to central 
authority and most social matters, are features of his character due to his struggles for 
religious independence in the seventeenth century. 

Combined with all this defiance of kingly authority, the Scot professed great 
reverence for the Crown in the abstract. BuT^it was left for the Celt to vindicate the 
kingly right in the concrete and the Stuart dynasty in particular. The Highlanders 
did not feel the oppressions of the century; they, indeed, were called down to oppress 
Lowland Presbyterianism in the reign of Charles II. What the religious state of the 
Highlands then was, we cannot gather from Mr Mackintosh's pages ; he has left the 
seventeenth century history of the Highlands yet to be written, both ecclesiastically 
and politically. The history of the two Rebellions he has traced well and graphically 
within the limits he could devote to the matter, but they belong to the last century 
and not to the period of history to which the volume is devoted, and where we should 
wish to have some idea of the ecclesiastical state of the Highlands. We quite acknow- 
ledge the difficulty of gathering the necessary information. The records of the period 
lie still unpublished in the Presbytery records of our northern parishes. Mr Mackin- 
tosh gives merely what he can get from already printed material, and we can only 
testify to the excellent use he has made of it. 

He details the political and ecclesiastical history of the seventeenth century 
in the first half of his book, and describes fairly and graphically all the weary 
details of that long period of strife the Acts of Parliament, the persecutions, the 
wars and the miseries of the time. He goes to the fountain-head ; he quotes the his- 
torians of the time, and, the Acts of Council, Parliament, and Assembly. It is an 
excellent historical account ; but it is lacking in the fact that though he " adorns the 
tale," he " does not point the moral ;" at least not with that fulness and clearness which 
we would like to see done by a historian of civilisation. We have indicated what we 



290 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

believe the effect of that history has been on the subsequent Scottish character, but it 
is not found in Mr Mackintosh's pages. His chapter on the social state of the 
country is the most interesting in the volume Not merely is the subject interesting, 
per se, but the author has showed himself at his best in his presentment of it and in 
his selected examples. Every considerable town in Scotland is laid under contribution 
to supply him with material; nor does Inverness escape. "In the year 1659, the 
tailors of Inverness," we are told, " petitioned the Magistrates that they were much 
injured in their trade by its being encroached upon and taken away by outlandish men 
dwelling around the borough and evading the taxes, and yet they came and stole away 
the trade of the place, 'to our great and apparent ruin.' The authorities listened to 
their complaint, and empowered them to restrain all outlandish tailors and seize their 
work. " But to no avail ; they had to make another appeal two years later against " un- 
freemen " keeping apprentices and employing servants. That is a specimen of the 
manners of the century in regard to trade ; guilds and monopolies were supreme. 
Church discipline was greatly exercised, but its effect was but too often counteracted 
by lawlessness and force. Sabbath desecration was strenuously battled with ; in 1609 
the town piper of Aberdeen was forbidden to play his pipes on Sunday, and sport of 
all kinds, especially fishing, was successfully put ^own. Mr Mackintosh gives inter- 
esting details about the towns, their lighting and their sewerage (non-existent), and 
about postal arrangements : " Till 1635 there had been no constant intercourse between 
England and Scotland ;" "till 1669 there was no regular postal communication between 
Aberdeen and Edinburgh," and in the same year "afoot-post was established be- 
tween Edinburgh and Inverness, and was to go and return twice a week to Aberdeen, 
and once to Inverness, ' if wind and weather served.' " The charge for a letter to In- 
verness from Edinburgh was four pence. 

Mr Mackintosh gives a good and concise account of the literature of the century, 
which consisted mainly of ballad poetry and ecclesiastical pamphlets and histories. 
He further extends his sketch of the ballad literature so as to include the "Jacobite 
ballads," to whose pathos and Celtic characteristics of natural description, colour, and 
humour he does justice. The chapter on education is cleverly written and exceedingly 
interesting in its details of the subjects taught in the higher schools. The vernacular 
tongue was a nuisance, which had to be endured in the school curriculum, because 
without it Latin could not be learnt. The volume closes with a chapter of some eighty 
pages on European philosophy in the seventeenth century, intended as an introduction 
to the history of Scottish philosophy, and to Mr Mackintosh's next volume. We 
cannot help admiring the success with which he has compressed into his space the 
philosophic tendencies of the age, and the accuracy and grasp with which he has 
sketched the leading features of the doctrines of Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, and 
Berkeley. The volume is superior both in spirit and style to Mr Mackintosh's former 
two, and that means giving the highest praise to its excellence as a work of industry, 
great research, and unmistakable genius. 



CELTIC AND LITERARY NOTES. 



THE recent visit of Mr Mundella, the Minister for Education to Scotland, is likely 
to prove of great importance to the cause of education in the Highlands. The con- 
cession made in the Code a few years ago, of permission to teach Gaelic during school 
hours, though hailed at the time as an important step in the proper direction, was, how- 



CELTIC AND LITERARY NOTES. 291 

ever, felt by many of those who knew the circumstances, . to be, after all, of little 
practical value in the absence of any inducement to the teachers to teach the language, 
and still further, from the inability of many of them to use it, even were more tang- 
ible encouragement held out to them. Various important Highland Societies con- 
sequently availed themselves of Mr Mundella's visit, and waited upon him, by deputa- 
tion, to urge the matter still further upon his attention. The spirit and manner in 
which they were received, and the intelligent and favourable view which Mr Mundella 
takes of the whole situation, leaves little room to doubt that very important changes 
will be introduced into the Code, at no distant date, to give full effect to the view of 
those who have all along maintained the reasonableness and the propriety of using 
the native language of the people, as well as the employment of native teachers, in 
communicating instruction in the Highlands. Mr Mundella quite admitted the 
absurdity of the system at present prevailing, and promised to give the matter his 
careful and early attention. 

The Committee in Inverness, charged with the selection of the Ettles lecturer, 
have this year made a singularly appropriate choice. The gentleman chosen is Dr 
Joseph Anderson, the learned Secretary of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, and the 
subject of his lectures will be one which will be looked forward to with keen interest, 
and one which he has made specially his own Celtic Art. 

A specific grievance, requiring the most earnest attention of our educational 
authorities, is the ruinously high rate of fees which the sparseness of the population 
renders it necessary to impose in certain Highland districts, notably the Island of 
Lewis, where it has actually been known to amount to los. in the pound. Attention 
was called to this fact in a most pointed and forcible manner at the recent dinner of 
the Gaelic Society of Inverness, by Mr Morrison, of Dingwall Academy. One con- 
sequence of such a state of matters is that, instead of the Education Act and the school 
and schoolmaster being regarded as advantages, they are looked upon as a grievous 
burden which impinges much more upon poor people than would the absence of the 
complete educational machinery which now covers the length and breadth of the land 

Another matter, not perhaps connected directly with education, but which comes 
under the cognisance of Mr Mundella, and to which attention has been directed in Parli- 
ment, is the attempts made, in the case of the Lewis at least, to enlist the aid of 
the Board School teachers in support of candidates for election to Parliament. A 
circular was recently addressed by Mr Mackay, Chamberlain of the Lewis, and 
Chairman of all the School Boards in the Island, appealing to the teachers for their 
assistance in promoting the political interests of one of the candidates for Ross-shire. 
The unwisdom and impropriety of such interferences with public officials is so con- 
spicuous that we wonder at the infatuation of those who practise them. 

The whole subject of the present condition of Highland education is under in- 
vestigation of a committee of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, with Mr Alexander 
Macbain, M.A., as convener. The task imposed upon the committee is to collect 
information, and report to a meeting of the Society. 

Classes for the teaching of Gaelic are being conducted in Raining's School, In- 
verness, by members of the Gaelic Society. There are upwards of 100 pupils in all 
stages of advancement, and of both sexes, and admirable progress is being made. 
The class-books used are Professor Mackinnon's Collection, Mr Lachlan Macbean 
and Mr D. C. Macpherson's Grammars, and the New Testament. 



292 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

An important paper, on the subject of the " Druidical " Circles, which 
are so frequently met with over the face of the country, was read before the 
Gaelic Society of Inverness last month, by Mr Alexander Macbain, M.A., 
Mr Macbain believes that the Circles in question are neither Druidic nor Celtic, 
but are the work of a pre-Celtic race, probably the Finnish or Pictish, and were 
erected for purposes of worship and burial ; his opinion being that the people 
who erected them were ancestor worshippers. He illustrated his various positions by 
pictorial and descriptive references to stone-circles in other countries which are de- 
voted to similar purposes, even at the present day. The interest of the paper was much 
increased by the aid of several illustrations supplied by Mr P. H. Smart, artist, Inverness. 

A metrical English translation of the poems of Dugald Buchanan is in the press, 
and will appear early this month. The translator is Mr Lachlan Macbean, well known 
in Celtic circles as the author of a very handy and useful Gaelic grammar, and a suc- 
cessful translator of Gaelic poetry. Several of his productions very favourably noticed 
at the time appeared in Vol. I. of the Celtic Magazine, under the nom de flume of 
" Minnie Littlejohn." 

THE PROPOSED "SCOTTISH HIGHLANDER." 

WE are daily receiving batches of subscribers for the proposed " Scottish Highlander," 
often from very unexpected quarters It must, however, be kept in mind that the 
number required is large, and cannot be got without the active aid of every friend of 
the Highland cause in their respective districts and among their friends. It must be 
distinctly understood that the paper cannot be proceeded with unless the necessary 
number of subscribers send in their names, and this cannot be expected without an 
effort on the part of leading men throughout the Highlands to secure names in their 
several localities. Many gentlemen have already done handsomely in this way, and 
we most heartily thank them. The following are a few extracts from hundreds of 
of letters received, in a similar strain, from gentlemen sending in their names : 

Cluny Macpherson of Cluny says : " It affords me much pleasure to add my name 
to your list of subscribers to the 'Scottish Highlander,' and I wish you every success. " 

M^r Joseph Dunbar, of the Huntly Express, writes: "I trust you may receive 
many thousand signatures, and every encouragement. Your object is worthy of all 
support and sympathy, and ought specially to commend itself to Highlanders nay, 
to every true Scotchman." 

Mr Evan MacColl, "The Bard of Lochfyne," writing from Kingston, Canada, 
says : " I wish you joy of your brave, patriotic undertaking one which all true 
Highlanders should look upon with favour, and do their best to make it a success. 
With such outside literary support as you are sure to command, added to your own 
indomkable pluck and ability, I feel quite confident that you will be able to make the 
' Scottish Highlander' such a paper as all good Scotsmen should be proud to patronise." 

Mr \Vill'::im Allan. Sunderland, writes : ' This is a step in the right direction, 
and merits the support of all Highlanders who have a heart and love their country. 
I wish you all success my son of the soil." 

Mr John Macrae, Ballintian. Kingussie, writes: "I trust your proposal of 
starting an independent newspaper will meet with every success. Every individual 
having a drop of Highland blood in his veins should put his shoulder to the wheel to 
support such an arduous and patriotic undertaking, so that the Highlanders may have 
an organ of their own to help them in exposing the injustice done to them for the last 
century, and to make a repetition of these impossible in future. I am confident that 
there is no other man in broad Scotland who can advocate the various claims of High- 
landers with the same effect that you can." 



THE 

CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



CONDUCTED BY 



ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A., Scot. 



No. CIII. MAY 1884. VOL. IX. 



THE HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 
By the EDITOR. 



XVI. 

SIR EWEN CAMERON Continued. THE BATTLE OF 

KlLLIECRANKIE. 

DUNDEE having made his arrangements, marched forward to 
meet the enemy, and never halted until within a musket shot of 
Mackay's army, numbering about 3500 foot and two troops of 
horse. After some preliminaries on the ground, necessary by the 
enemy's formation, his Lordship, in a very short time, arranged 
his brave little army in battle order. 

Sir John Maclean, then a youth of eighteen years, with his 
men, occupied the extreme right ; next him, on his left, were 
the Irish, under Colonel Cannon ; on their left again were the 
Tutor of Clanranald and his brave Macdonalds, and next to them 
came Glengarry and his men. Then, in the centre, were the few 
horse they had, including about forty of Dundee's old troops, in 
very poor condition. To the left of the horse was placed Lochiel 
at the head of his Camerons ; while next, on the extreme left, 
was Sir Donald Macdonald leading his Islesmen. " Though 
there were great intervals between the battalions, and a large 

U 



294 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

void space left in the centre, yet Dundee could not possibly 
stretch his line so as to equal that of the enemy; and wanting 
men to fill up the void in the centre, Lochiel, who was 
posted next the horse, was not only obliged to fight Mackay's 
own regiment, which stood directly opposite to him, but also had 
his flank exposed to the fire of Leven's battalion, which he had 
not men to engage, whereby he thereafter greatly suffered. But 
what was hardest of all, he had only 240 of his clan with him, and 
even of these sixty were sent as Dundee's advance guard, to take 
possession of a house from which he apprehended the enemy 
might gall them if they put men into it. But there was no help- 
ing the matter. Each clan, whether small or great, had a regi- 
ment assigned to it, and that, too, by Lochiel's advice, who at- 
tended the General while making his dispositions. His design 
was to keep up their spirit of emulation in point of bravery ; for 
as the Highlanders put the highest value upon the honour of 
their families or clans, and the renown of glory acquired by 
military actions, so the emulation between clan and clan inspires 
them with a certain generous contempt of danger, and gives 
vigour to their hands and keenness to their courage." 

By the time Dundee got his army in order, it was well on in 
the afternoon, and his men, aggravated by the fire of the enemy 
from the low ground, were anxious to be led into action ; but as 
the sun was shining straight in their faces, they were held back 
until near sunset. During this interval Lochiel visited his 
men, and appealed personally to each of them, every one of 
whom declared to him in turn that they should conquer or die 
that day. He then told them to make a great noise by shouting 
as loudly as they could. This they did with a hearty good will ; 
it was at once taken up by the whole Highland army to right and 
to left of them, and returned by the enemy. The noise of the 
cannon and muskets, " with the prodigious echoing of the adjacent 
hills and rocks in which there are several caverns and hollow 
places," made the Highlanders fancy that their shouts were much 
louder and more spirited than those of the enemy, when Lochiel, 
taking advantage of this, exclaimed, " Gentlemen, take courage, 
the day is ours, I am the oldest commander in the army, and 
have always observed something ominous and fatal in such a 
dead, hollow, and feeble noise as the enemy made in their shout- 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 295 

ing. Ours was brisk, lively, and strong, and shows that we have 
courage, vigour, and strength. Theirs was low, lifeless, and dead, 
and prognosticates that they are all doomed to die by our hands 
this very night." These words went through the little army 
like lightning, and, coming from Lochiel, greatly encouraged 
and animated the officers and men. 

At seven o'clock Dundee gave the order to advance, com- 
manding that as soon as the Macleans moved on the right, the 
whole body should instantly march forward and charge straight 
in among the enemy. "It is incredible with what intrepidity 
the Highlanders endured the enemy's fire ; and though it grew 
more terrible on their nearer approach, yet they, with a wonder- 
ful resolution, kept up their own, as they were commanded, till 
they came up to their very bosoms, and, then pouring it in upon 
them all at once, like one great clap of thunder, they threw away 
thejr guns, and fell in pell-mell among the thickest of them with 
broadswords. After this the noise seemed hushed ; and the fire 
ceasing on both sides, nothing was heard for some few moments 
but the sullen and hollow clashes of broadswords, with the dismal 
groans and cries of dying and wounded men." The brave 
Dundee fell, mortally wounded, by a shot about two hand- 
breadths within his armour on the lower part of his left side, 
from which it was concluded that he must have received his 
wound, " while he raised himself in his stirrups and stretched his 
body to hasten up his horse" at a point in the engagement, to 
turn him to the right, to enable himself to wave his hat for some 
of the men to come to the rescue of the Earl of Dunfermline, 
and sixteen brave horsemen, who had succeeded in routing the 
enemy's cavalry by a most brilliant charge. The Highlanders 
though they lost about a third of their men, secured a complete 
victory, and few of the enemy escaped; but having lost their 
brilliant Commander, it was dearly bought, and the war may be 
said to have been practically finished, before it was well com- 
menced, by a Highland victory, perhaps the most brilliant on 
record. 

Lochiel, after having ordered his men to advance, seems to 
have been much encumbered by the use of what Macaulay de- 
scribes as " the only pair of shoes in his clan ;" for not being 
able to keep up with his men, he commended them to the protec- 



296 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE 

tion of God, sat down by the way, and deliberately pulling off 
the encumbrances that pinched and crippled him, had the agility 
to get up to his men as they were drawing their swords, in 
close quarters with the enemy. 

Stewart states that Lochiel was attended in this battle 
by the son of his foster-brother, who saved him at Achadalew, by 
receiving the shot intended for his chief in his own mouth. " This 
faithful adherent," says the General, " followed him like his 
shadow, ready to assist him with his sword, or cover him from the 
shot of his enemy. Soon after the battle began, the chief missed 
his friend from his side, and, turning round to look what had 
become of him, saw him lying on his back, with his breast pierced 
by an arrow. He had hardly breath before he expired to tell 
Lochiel that seeing an enemy, a Highlander in General Mackay's 
army, aiming at him with a bow and arrow from the rear, he 
sprung behind him, and thus sheltered him from instant death."* 

Macaulay's description of the brilliant charge of the High- 
landers and its results is so spirited that we give it, though it is 
entirely based on the "Memoirs of Sir Ewen Cameron," from which 
we have already given the details at such length. Macaulay 
says " It was past seven o'clock. Dundee gave the word. The 
Highlanders dropped their plaids. The few who were so luxuri- 
ous as to wear rude socks of untanned hide spurned them away. It 
was long remembered in Lochaber that Lochiel took off what pro- 
bably was the only pair of shoes in his clan, and charged barefoot 
at the head of his men. The whole line advanced firing. The 
enemy returned the fire, and did much execution. When only 
a small space was left between the armies, the Highlanders 
suddenly flung away their firelocks, drew their broadswords, and 
rushed forward with a fearful yell. The Lowlanders prepared to 
receive the shock ; but this was then a long and awkward process, 
and the soldiers were still fumbling with the muzzles of their 
guns and the handles of their bayonets, when the whole flood of 
Macleans, Macdonalds, and Camerons came down. In two 
minutes the battle was lost and won. The ranks of Balfour's 
regiment broke. He was cloven down while struggling in the 
press. Ramsay's men turned their backs and dropped their 
arms. Mackay's own foot were swept away by the furious onset 

* Sketches of the Highlanders, Vol. i., p. 70. 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 297 

of the Camerons. His brother and nephew exerted themselves 
in vain to rally the men. The former was laid dead on the 
ground by the stroke of a claymore. The latter, with eight 
wounds in his body, made his way through the tumult and the 
carnage to his uncle's side. Even in that extremity Mackay re- 
tained all his self-possession. He had still one hope. A charge 
of horse might recover the day ; for of horse the bravest High- 
landers were supposed to stand in awe. But he called on the 
horse in vain. Belhaven, indeed, behaved like a gallant gentle- 
man ; but his troopers, appalled by the rout of the infantry, 
galloped off in disorder ; Annandale's men followed, all was over, 
and the mingled torrents of red coats and tartans went raving 
down the valley to the Gorge of Killiecrankie." * Mackay's 
whole army had vanished, all the men he could collect after the 
battle being a few hundred. 

Next morning the Highlanders, who had retired during the 
night, returned to the field of the recent carnage, where, Drum- 
mond informs us, the dreadful effects of the fury appeared in 
many horrible figures. The enemy lay in heaps almost in the 
order in which they were posted, but so disfigured with wounds, 
and so hashed and mangled, that even the victors could 
not look upon the amazing proofs of their own agility and 
strength without surprise and horror. Many had their heads 
divided in two halves by one blow ; others had their skulls 
cut off above their ears, by a back stroke, like a night-cap. 
Their thick buff belts were not sufficient to defend their shoulders 
from such deep gashes as almost disclosed their entrails, several 
pikes, small swords, and the like weapons, were cut quite through, 
and some that had skull-caps had them so beat into their brains, 
that they died upon the spot.-f* It was noticed that few, if any, 
of the Highlanders were killed after they drew their swords, and 
that the majority of those of them who fell were slain within a 

* History of England, pp. 360-361, Vol. iii. 

t "An Officer of the army," present at Killiecrankie, in a rare pamphlet, entitled 
"Memoirs of the Lord Viscount Dundee," describes the terrible effects of the High- 
land claymore, in very similar language to the above. He says that before the 
battle "The Highlanders threw away their plaids, haversacks, and all other utensils, 
and marched resolutely and deliberately in their shirts and doublets, with their fusils, 
targets, and pistols ready, down the hill on the enemy, and received Mackay's third 
fire before they pierced his lines, in which many of the Highlanders fell, including 



298 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

few paces of their enemies before they fled and fired their last 
volley, as the Highlanders came to close quarters. Lochiel lost 
one-half of his entire force, mainly through a furious fire, directed 
on his flank as he charged, by Leven's battalion, which, as we 
have already seen, had no Highlanders against it to engage it 
in front. 

In this connection, General Stewart of Garth records the fol- 
lowing : At the same time that Sir Ewen was distinguishing 
himself so brilliantly in the service of King James, his second 
son, Donald, was a Captain in the 2ist Scots Fusiliers, serv- 
ing with Mackay in the army of King William. As General 
Mackay observed the Highland army being drawn up on the face 
of the hill to the westward of the Pass, he turned round to young 
Lochiel, who stood next to him, and, pointing to the Camerons, 
said " There's your father with his wild savages ; how would you 
like to be with them ?" " It signifies little," replied Captain 
Cameron, " what I would like ; but I recommend you to be pre- 
pared, or perhaps my father and his wild savages may be nearer 
to you before night than you would like." And so, indeed, it 
turned out. 

Dundee had such complete confidence in the experience, 
judgment, and prudence of Sir Ewen, that he unfailingly consulted 
him on every important occasion, and he openly expressed the 
opinion that " he was the fittest person in the kingdom " to com- 
mand the Highland army. 

Cannon, being the next highest officer in rank, on the fall of 
Dundee assumed command. Having buried their great com- 
mander and the leading officers who fell with him, in the church 
of Blair-Athole, a large body of Highlanders joined the army, just 
three days after the Battle of Killiecrankie the very day ap- 
pointed, before Dundee left Lochaber, for the general rendezvous 

Dundee, the terror of the Whigs, the supporter of King James, and the glory of his 
country. Then the Highlanders fired, threw down their fusils, rushed in upon the 
enemy, with sword, target, and pistol, who did not maintain their ground two minutes 
after the Highlanders were amongst them ; and I dare be bold to say, there were 
scarce ever such strokes given in Europe as were given that day by the Highlanders. 
Many of General Mackay's officers and soldiers were cut down through the skull and 
neck to the very breasts ; others had their skulls cut off above their ears like night- 
caps ; some soldiers had both their bodies and cross-belts cut through at one blow ; 
pikes and small swords were cut like willows." 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 299 

of the clans. Of this new body 500 were Camerons, under 
Lochiel's eldest son, John, and his cousin, Cameron of Glendes- 
seray. It was, however, all too late. The war was already 
virtually over. Cannon mismanaged everything. The chiefs 
had no confidence in him. He sent a party on an expedi- 
tion to Perth, but they were so badly led that Mackay easily 
overtook and defeated them. The Lowland officers and the 
Highland chiefs disagreed in Council. Lochiel and the High- 
landers proposed fighting Mackay at once. The Lowland officers, 
who had scarcely any personal following, opposed this as impru- 
dent, though Lochiel declared that he was prepared to fight the 
enemy by his own clan, with the assistance only of three hundred 
horse which had just joined them. In spite of this and the 
urgent appeals of the other Highland chiefs, the Lowland officers 
who all had a vote in the Council of War, carried their 
proposal, that the army should march north into Aberdeen- 
shire ; the only reason given for this cowardly conduct being 
the expectation of increasing their forces by the accession of 
more of their northern friends. Lochiel was disgusted, and retired 
sullenly to Lochaber, leaving the command of his .clan to his 
eldest son, John, but the Highlanders became so dispirited, and 
Cannon, the commander, got into such disrepute, that after a few 
skirmishes the army gradually melted away, and Cannon followed 
the Camerons to Lochaber, where he remained during the winter. 
On the ist of November 1689, James wrote a letter to 
Lochiel, from Ireland, acknowledging his services, and that of the 
other chiefs, in his cause, promising to send over the Earl of Sea- 
forth, then in Ireland, " to head his friends and followers," and 
at the same time to send the Duke of Berwick with consider- 
able forces. These were never sent. The Earl of Seaforth 
arrived in the following Spring, but brought nothing with him 
except letters and commissions for the chiefs. The one to 
Lochiel is dated "At our Court at Dublin," on the 3ist of March 
1690. The usual liberal but empty promises of reward were 
repeated by the King, but never redeemed ; he never had the 
opportunity. A Council of War was held on the arrival of General 
Buchan, who had come from Ireland, Cannon and other high 
officers being present, to decide as to their future movements. 
At this meeting several of the leaders proposed to make their 



300 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

submission to King William on such favourable terms as they 
then knew they would be sure to obtain. Cogent and many were 
the reasons urged for the adoption of this course, but, as usual, 
Lochiel was implacable. He was supported by Sir Donald Mac- 
donald of Sleat, Sir John Maclean of Duart, and Clanranald, in 
his determination to hold out and fight for the ungrateful James, 
though it was admitted by all that he sent them nothing but empty 
promises ; and some doubted his inclination to redeem them, even 
should he ever possess the power to do so. Lochiel addressed 
them, and concluded an eloquent and spirited appeal to their 
patriotism and loyalty in the following terms " For my own 
part, gentlemen," he said, " I am resolved to be in my duty while 
I am able : and though I am now an old man, weakened by 
fatigue, and worn out by continual trouble, yet I am determined 
to spend the remainder of my life after my old manner, among 
mountains and caves, rather than give up my conscience and 
honour by a submission, let the terms be never so inviting, until I 
have my master's permission to do it ; and no argument, or view 
of interest or safety, shall prevail with me to change this resolu- 
tion, whatever may be the event." On the conclusion of these 
remarks all opposition vanished, and it was agreed that General 
Buchan should in the meantime march south to the border of the 
Lowlands, with twelve hundred men, but that the Highlanders, 
except such as should volunteer to join Buchan, should remain 
until they laid down their crops in the Spring. None 
of the Highland chiefs joined him. He started about the 
middle of April towards Strathspey, and was defeated by Sir 
Thomas Livingstone, at Cromdale, early in May, with consider- 
able loss. After this, on the i6th of June, two of the leaders 
Macdonald of Largo and MacAlastair of Loup made their sub- 
mission, and the Government sent emissaries to the Highlands 
to sound the other chiefs as to whether they would submit on 
any reasonable terms. They, however, with one voice, refused 
to listen to any proposal, though they were all much disposed for 
peace, without the full consent of King James. But they agreed 
to meet the Earl of Bread albane, who had been appointed by 
Government to negotiate with them, and consider terms, in view 
of their obtaining the permission of James to give up the war; and 
they had several meetings with the Earl at Achallader, near his 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 301 

own property, where they agreed upon the following articles, as 
the only terms on which they would give up the struggle and lay 
down their arms : 

1st. As a preliminary article, they demanded full power and liberty to send such 
a. person as they should choose to the Court of St Germains upon the Government's 
charges, in order to lay the state of their affairs before King James, and to obtain his 
permission and warrant to enter into that treaty. 

2nd. This article being granted, they next demanded the sum of 20,000 ster- 
ling to refund the great expenses and losses they had sustained by the war. In order 
to obtain this they represented that the people were so impoverished that it would be 
impossible to keep them from making depredations on their low-country neighbours, 
unless they were enabled to stay at home, and apply themselves to agriculture and the 
improvement of their country. 

3rd. That King William should, at the public charge, free them from all 
manner of vassalage and dependence on the great men, their neighbours, as King 
James was to have done, for which they produced his letters ; so that, being free 
from the tyranny and oppression of these superiors, they might have their sole depend- 
ence on the Crown, and be enabled effectually to suppress thieving, and employ their 
people in the service of their country. 

4th. That King James's officers might have full liberty either to remain at home 
or to go into foreign service as they pleased, and that they, and all others engaged in 
his interest, should not only have passports for that purpose, but also be carried to 
the port of Havre de Grace at the expense of the Government. 

5th. That they be all allowed to wear and use their arms as they were used to 
do ; and that no other oaths should be put to them except that of simple allegiance ; 
and that they should have full and free indemnity for all crimes whatever committed 
by them, or any of them, during the war ; and that in the meantime there should be 
cessation of arms. 

In September following, before any effect could be given to 
the terms of this treaty, Argyll was ordered north by the Council 
to join the Earl of Glencairn, with orders to reduce the High- 
landers. These, gentlemen, however, hacl little success. But the 
Government was determined ; an act of sequestration was taken 
out against Lochiel and the other chiefs, and to execute it a com- 
mission was granted, in the month of November, to Colonel Hill, 
governor of Fort- William, to collect Lochiel's rents. He was, 
however, as might be expected, quite unable to carry out his 
instructions. " but remained confined within the walls of his fort " 
until a treaty of peace was finally arranged. 

King William ultimately agreed that Sir George Barclay 
and Major Duncan Menzies should visit James at the Court of 
St Germains, to obtain permission for the Highland chiefs to lay 
down their arms and come to terms with the existing Govern- 
ment ; and, on the 2/th of August, William wrote to the Privy 



302 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Council, informing them of what he had agreed to, and intimat- 
ing that, as the vassalage and dependence of some of the High- 
land chiefs upon others in their neighbourhood had occasioned 
many feuds and differences among them, which obliged them to 
neglect the improvement and cultivation of their lands, that he 
was graciously pleased now not only to pardon, indemnify, and 
restore, all who had been in arms, and who should take the oath 
of allegiance before the first of the following January, but that he 
had also resolved to pay the cost of the purchase of the lands 
and superiorities which were the subjects of those disputes and 
animosities, so that in future they would be entirely dependent, 
as its immediate vassals, on the Crown. He urged upon the 
Council the utmost application of the Royal authority to carry 
this arrangement into effect, and at once to issue an indemnity 
such as he desired, without any limitation or restriction what- 
ever, to all who agreed to take the oath of allegiance to him and 
Queen Mary, before the first of January 1692, in presence of the 
Council, or before the Sheriffs or their Deputies in the respective 
shires wherein the chiefs resided. Those leaders who declined, 
or were obstinate, were ordered to be prosecuted with the ut- 
most severity of the law. 

Notwithstanding these offers, which must be considered 
liberal enough in the circumstances, not one of the Highland 
chiefs took advantage of the indemnity offered to them, until the 
return of their commissioners from the Court of James at St 
Germains, a few days before the time stated therein expired. 
The letter from James granting the required permission is ad- 
dressed " To our trusty and well-beloved General, Major Thomas 
Buchan, or to the officer commanding-in-chief our forces in our 
ancient kingdom of Scotland," and is in the following terms : 

" James R., right trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. We are informed 
of the state of our subjects in the Highlands, and of the condition that you and our 
other officers there are in, as well by our trusty and well-beloved Sir George 
Barclay, Brigadier of our Forces : as by our trusty and well-beloved Major 
Duncan Menzies : And therefore we have thought fit hereby to authorise you to give 
leave to our said subjects and officers, who have hitherto behaved themselves so loyally 
in our cause, to do what niay be most for their own and your safety ; and so we bid 
you farewell. St Germains, this I2th day of December 1691, and in the seventh year 
of our reign." 

Lochiel did not get his copy of this letter from Buchan, who was 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 303 

at the time residing with Glengarry, until within thirty hours of 
the expiry of the period allowed him under the conditions of in- 
demnity to submit to King William's Government ; but by a 
great effort he managed to arrive at Inveraray, where the Sheriff 
of the County resided, on the very day on which the period of 
the indemnity expired, and, with undoubted reluctance, made his 
submission, and saved himself from a prosecution and possible 
ruin ; but King William took advantage of his delay in not 
coming forward until the last moment, " as a pretence to defraud 
him of his share of the 20,000 sterling, promised and due to him 
by the treaty, and of the superiority of his lands, which he stood 
"engaged to purchase for him," as already described. In 1696 Sir 
Ewen, then sixty-seven years of age, made over the greater part 
of his estates to his eldest son, John, reserving the life-rent to 
himself. 

John was a thorough Jacobite, and he took part in all the 
political intrigues and other proceedings of the Highland Chiefs, 
which culminated in the Rising of 1715, for the restoration of the 
exiled King. In 1706 a warrant was issued for his apprehension 
on the charge of high treason, but it does not appear that it was 
ever executed. About the same time John seems to have made 
over the estates to his eldest son, Donald, afterwards so dis- 
tinguished as the "gentle Lochiel " of 1745. John Cameron of 
Lochiel, and his brother, Lieutenant Allan Cameron, are included 
in a summons issued against all the Highland Chiefs, " and other 
suspected persons," early in September 1715, to appear at Edin- 
burgh, by a certain day, to find security for their good conduct. 
Sir Alexander Erskine and Patrick Murray of Auchtertyre were 
the only persons named who complied, and all the others, includ- 
ing the brothers Cameron, were denounced and declared rebels. 

John is said " to have had a greater genius for civil than for 
military affairs," and we are informed that his leadership of the 
Clan in 1715 " seems to have given but little satisfaction either 
to his father or the clan, and it is reported that they expressed 
an unwillingness again to serve under him." On the I7th of Sep- 
tember, he, with a party of Macdonalds, Macleans, his own 
clan, and a few others, attempted to surprise the garrison at 
Inverlochy, when they took two redoubts in the vicinity of the 
garrison, sword in hand, capturing a lieutenant and twenty men 



304 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

in one, and a serjeant and five men in the other, after which they 
proceeded to Argyleshire. Having held out for a short time, the 
Camerons submitted to General Cadogan in 1716, and delivered 
up their arms John having been forfeited for his share in the 
Rebellion of 1715, escaped to France, where he died in 1747, 
at an advanced age, without ever after visiting his native land. 

Sir Ewen seems to have retired entirely into private life 
after his submission in 1692, his age and infirmities rendering him 
quite unfit, even were he disposed, to take an active part in the 
Rising of 1715, or in the proceedings which led up to it. He is 
known to have owned a plantation in the West Indies for some 
years before he died, a remarkable fact in the history of a man 
like him. This he made over to members of his family, with 
his landed property, several years before he died. 

The following account of his latter years and of his death is 
abridged from a copy taken by Miss Cameron of Lochiel from 
one of the Balhaldy Papers, and reproduced in the Editor's Pre- 
face to the " Memoirs," though it was not incorporated in 
any of the manuscripts to which he had access. It will be 
noticed that the writer of the original manuscript was personally 
acquainted with Sir Ewen, and, therefore, his description may 
safely be accepted as accurate. He informs us that: His eyes 
retained their former vivacity, and his sight was so good in his 
ninetieth year that he could discern the most minute object and 
read the smallest print ; nor did he so much as want a tooth, 
which seemed as white and close as one would have imagined 
they were in the twentieth year of his age. In this state he was 
when I had the good fortune to see him in 1716, and so great was 
his strength at that time that he wrung some blood from the 
point of my fingers with a grasp of his hand. He was of the 
largest size, his bones big, his countenance fresh and smooth, and 
he had a certain air of greatness about him which struck the 
beholders with awe and respect. He enjoyed continued perfect 
health from the cradle to the grave, except the flux already re- 
ferred to, by which he was laid up during the whole of the year 
1674 ; and not a drop of his blood was ever drawn, except on 
one occasion when a knife had accidentally pierced his foot. 

The story which I am going to tell, the same writer con- 
tinues, would be absolutely incredible were it not vouched by a 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 305 

multitude of witnesses. Very early in the morning on which the 
Chevalier de St George landed at Peterhead, attended only by 
Allan Cameron, one of the Gentlemen of his Bedchamber, Sir 
Ewen started, as it were, in a surprise from his sleep, and called 
out loudly to his lady who lay near him in another bed that 
his King was landed, that his King had arrived, and that his 
own son, Allan, was with him ; she awoke, and, inquiring if he 
wanted anything, he repeated the same statement over and over 
again, and commanded that a large bonfire should be put on, and 
the best liquor be brought out to his lads (as he called his 
clansmen), that they might make merry and drink his king's 
health. The lady, who at first fancied he was raving, took little 
notice of him, but he was determined and positive, and gave his 
commands with such authority, that she was at last obliged to 
obey them. Not only his own grandchildren and his domestics, 
but all the people in the neighbourhood, were convened to take 
part in this celebration, which they continued " with uncommon 
festivity and mirth " until the next day was nearly spent. His 
lady was so curious that she noted down the words upon paper, 
with the date, which she, a few days after, found verified in every 
particular, to her great surprise. 

It will be remembered that he had a somewhat similar 
experience on the occasion of his visit to General Middle- 
ton at Lochgarry ; and in the present case " his waking through 
his sleep, his expressing the words, and giving the orders here 
related, stand vouched not only by the lady and a servant 
that lay near him, but likewise by the multitude convened to 
the solemnity, who all came and kissed their chiefs hand, and 
informed themselves of the truth of it. Besides, contrary to his 
usual custom, he talked of nothing else all the next day; gave 
orders from time to time to carry out more liquor to his lads, and 
said that he would see his son Allan, but should never have the 
honour of seeing his king." This landing of the Chevalier at 
Peterhead took place in December 1715, just three years and a 
few months before Lochiel died. 

Pennant informs us that Sir Ewen outlived himself, that he 
became a second child, and was even rocked in a cradle ; so much 
were the faculties of his mind and the members of his body im- 
paired. Tradition has it that he was even fed on woman's milk and 



306 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

suckled as an infant before he died. The account given from 
Miss Cameron's copy of the Balhaldy Papers, written by one 
who was personally acquainted with the old chief in his latter 
years, appear sufficiently conclusive on the point, though, it must 
be admitted, that Pennant is remarkably accurate in everything 
else he has written of his career. The fact of his mind continu- 
ing unimpaired until late in life, except during the high fever 
from which he died, is also corroborated in Patten's " History of 
the Rebellion," published in 1717. When Sir Walter Scott pub- 
lished his "Tales of a Grandfather," he made every inquiry to 
ascertain if any trustworthy tradition or other account existed of 
the cradle, and he found none ; but it was a current tradition 
that Lochiel had lost the use of his lower limbs, and that he 
turned himself about in bed by the assistance of a rope and 
pulley. 

Than Lord Macaulay's description of his qualities and 
appearance nothing could be finer : " Sir Ewen Cameron of 
Lochiel, surnamed the Black, was," he says, " in personal qualities 
unrivalled among the Celtic Princes. He was a gracious master, 
a trusty ally, a terrible enemy. His countenance and bearing 
were singularly noble. Some persons who had been at Ver- 
sailles, and among them the shrewd and observant Simon Lord 
Lovat, said that there was in person and manner a most striking 
resemblance between Lewis the Fourteenth and Lochiel, and 
whoever compares the portraits of the two will perceive that there 
really was some likeness. In stature the difference was great. 
Lewis, in spite of high-heeled shoes and a towering wig, had 
hardly reached the middle size. Lochiel was tall and strongly 
built. In agility and skill at his weapons he had few equals 
among the inhabitants of the hills. He had been repeatedly vic- 
torious in single combat. He was a hunter of great fame. He 
made vigorous war on the wolves which, down to his time, preyed 
on the red deer of the Grampians ; and by his hand perished the 
last of the ferocious breed which is known to have wandered at 
large in our island. Nor was Lochiel less distinguished by 
intellectual than by bodily vigour. He might, indeed, have 
seemed ignorant to educated and travelled Englishmen, who had 
studied the Classics under Busby at Westminster and under 
Aldrich at Oxford, who had learned something about the sciences 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 307 

among Fellows of the Royal Society, and something about 
the Fine Arts in the galleries of Florence and Rome. But 
though Lochiel had very little knowledge of books, he was emin- 
ently wise in council, eloquent in debate, ready in devising ex- 
pedients, and skilful in managing the minds of men."* In another 
part of the same work, Macaulay says that Lochiel was especially 
renowned for his physical prowess; that his clansmen looked big 
with pride when they related how he had broken hostile ranks 
and hewn down tall warriors ; and that he owed quite as much of 
his influence to these achievements as to the qualities which, if 
fortune had placed him in Parliament or at the French Court, 
would have made him one of the foremost men of his age. 

Sir Ewen was married three times ; first to Mary, daughter 
of Sir Donald Macdonald, eighth Baron and first Baronet of 
Sleat, by Janet, daughter of Kenneth, first Lord Mackenzie of 
Kintail, without issue. 

He married, secondly, Isabel, eldest daughter of Sir Lachlan 
Maclean of Duart, first Baronet, and sister of Sir Hector and Sir 
Allan, second and third Baronets, by Mary, daughter of Sir 
Roderick Mor Macleod of Macleod, with issue : 

1. John his heir. 

2. Donald, a man " of great honour and merit," Major in the 
service of the States of Holland. He fought at Killiecrankie, 
with the rank of Captain, under General Mackay, against his own 
father ; but we can trace nothing further of his history except 
that he died, without issue, about the same time as Sir Ewen, in 
1719. 

3. Allan, " a man of extraordinary parts and great integrity." 
He was a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the Chevalier de St 
George, and was one of those select few who landed with him at 
Peterhead, in December 1715. After the Rebellion he was among 
those summoned to appear in Edinburgh. He did not, of course, 
obey, but returned with the Prince to France, where he remained 
for several years at his Court In 1725 he came back to the 
Highlands on a mission to the Highland Chiefs, and was em- 
ployed in correspondence and negotiation with them on behalf 
of the Chevalier until about 1729, when he appears to have 
again returned to France, where he lived with his Royal master 

* History of England, p.p. 319-320. 



308 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

for several years. He died before 1745. He was married to 
a daughter of Fraser of Lovat, with issue three daughters, 
one of whom married Campbell of Lochdochart, by whom she 
had numerous issue. In a letter from the Chevalier, signed 
" James R.," to Donald Cameron, younger of Lochiel, addressed 
as "Mr Johnstone, junior," and dated April I ith, 1727, he refers 
to his uncle thus " Allan is now with me, and I am always glad 
to have some of my brave Highlanders with me, whom I value 
as they deserve." Allan himself writes to his nephew, young 
Lochiel, "from Albano, October 3rd, 1729," a most interesting 
letter, which will be given in full later on. 

4. Margaret, who married Alexander Drummond of Bal- 
haldy, with issue. 

5. Anne, who married Allan Maclean of Ardgour, with issue. 

6. Catherine, who married William, Tutor of Macdonald, 
and brother-german of Sir Donald Macdonald, eleventh Baron 
and fourth Baronet of Sleat, with issue Ewen (with several 
others), progenitor of the Macdonalds of Vallay. 

7. Janet, who, about 1698, married, as his second wife, John 
Grant of Glenmoriston, with issue ten sons and five daughters. 
She died on the 9th of February 1759, in the eightieth year of 
her age, when her descendants numbered over two hundred. 

Sir Ewen married, thirdly, Jean, daughter of Colonel David 
Barclay, XVII. of Urie, with issue. 

8. Ludovick, who acted as Major for his nephew, the 
"Gentle Lochiel," in 1745. He was designed " of Torcastle," 
from his having his residence there. He married a daughter of 
Chisholm, with issue (i), Allan ; and (2), Catherine, who 
married, first, Maclachlan of Coruanan ; and secondly, Macdonald 
of Greenfield. He had also two other sons. 

9. Christian, who married Allan Cameron of Glendesseray, 
with issue two sons and three daughters. 

10. Jean, who married Lachlan Macpherson of Cluny, great- 
grandfather of the present chief of Clan Chattan, with issue 
seven sons and four daughters. Three of these daughters married 
respectively, William Mackintosh of Aberarder, Donald Mac- 
pherson of Breakachy, and Lewis Macpherson of Dalraddie. 

11. Isabel, who married Archibald Cameron of Dungallon, 
with issue three sons and three daughters. 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 309 

12. Lucy, who, as his second wife, married in 1707, Patrick 
Campbell of Barcaldine, with issue (i), Colin of Glenure, who 
married, 9th of May 1749, Janet, daughter of Hugh Mackay of 
Bighouse, son of George, third Lord Reay, F.R,S. On the I4th 
of May 1752, Colin was murdered by the Stewarts of Appin, 
leaving issue three daughters, one of whom, Louisa, inherited 
Bighouse, in 1770, on the death of her grandfather. She married, 
on the nth of June 1768, George Mackay of Islandhanda, with 
issue nineteen children. (2), Donald, a surgeon in the Royal 
Navy ; (3), Alexander, an officer in the army ; (4), Duncan, who 
succeeded his father in the estates and carried on the succession, 
and whose daughter, Lucy, married Sir Ewen Cameron, Baronet 
of Fassifern, and was the mother of the famous Colonel John 
Cameron, of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, who fell at Quatre- 
Bras ; (5), Archibald, an officer in the army ; (6), Robert, a 
merchant ; (7), Allan, a general officer ; (8), Isabella, who 
married Campbell of Auchallader ; (9), Mary, who married Mac- 
dougall of Macdougall ; (10), Annabella, who married Campbell 
of Melfort ; and (i i), Jane, who married Campbell of Edinchipp. 

13. Ket, who married John Campbell of Auchallader, with 
issue two sons and four daughters. 

14. Una, who married her cousin, Robert Barclay, XX. of 
Urie, with issue Robert, his heir, now represented by Barclay- 
Allardice of Urie and Allardice ; two other sons, Evan and 
Alexander, both of whom died without issue; and one daughter. 

1 5. Marjory, who married Macdonald of Morar, with issue. 
Sir Ewen died of a high fever, though it had left him a few 

hours before his death, when " his memory and judgment returned 
and he discoursed as sensibly as ever he was known to do in his 
greater vigour. He called his sons, Major Donald and Ludovick, 
and all his friends and domestics that chanced to be about him, 
to each of whom he spoke a word or two, and then recommended 
to them in general, religion, loyalty, patriotism, and the love of 
their friends. In a word, his exit was suitable to his life, and he 
left a memory behind him so glorious that his name shall be 
mentioned in these countries with the utmost veneration and 
respect." 

He died in February 1719, having completed his ninetieth 
year, when he was succeeded by his eldest son, John. 

(To be continued.) X 



310 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



THE DISARMING ACT AND PROSCRIPTION 
OF THE HIGHLAND DRESS. 

BY J. G. MACKAY. 



II. 

SEVERAL of the loyal chiefs remonstrated with the Government, 
but to no purpose ; the fates were against them ; the Highlands 
must be subdued ; it mattered little how, or at what cost of 
human suffering. Lord President Forbes, who had done such 
good service for the Government, in checking the rising of many 
of the disaffected clans in the North, entreated the Government 
on behalf of his countrymen, but his prayers and solicitations 
were in vain. When beseeching the Duke of Cumberland to 
spare the lives of the unfortunate rebels, he reminded the "Butcher" 
" that the slaughter that was going on was not only inhuman, and 
against the laws of God, but also against the laws of the land." 
" The laws of the country, my lord ! " said the Duke. " I'll make 
a brigade give laws, by God ! " 

Provost Hossack, of Inverness, who had also rendered good 
service to the Government, shared the same rebuff when craving 
mercy for the unfortunate victims. The Duke, after the battle 
of Culloden, accompanied by Generals Hawley and Huske, was 
consulting as to the quickest mode of putting the prisoners to 
death. The worthy Provost besought them " As His Majesty's 
troops have happily been successful against the rebels, I hope 
your excellencies will be so good as to mingle mercy with judg- 
ment." Hawley, in a rage, cried out, " D n the puppy ! 

Does he pretend to dictate here ? Carry him away." Such acts 
as this, of which unfortunately there were many, could not but 
impress Upon the Highlanders the hopelessness of their cause. 

The Lord President had an equally unfavourable opinion of 
the " Dress Bill." In a letter to Brodie of Brodie, then Lord 
Lyon for Scotland, dated 8th July 1747, he says : 

" The garb is certainly very loose, and fits men inured to it to make very quick 
marches, to go through very great fatigues, to bear out against the inclemency of the 
weather, to wade through rivers, and shelter in huts, woods, and rocks upon occasion, 
which men dressed in Low-Country garb could not possibly endure. 



THE DISARMING ACT. 311 

"But it is to he considered, as the Highlands are circumstanced at present, it 
is at least it seems to me to be an utter impossibility, without the advantage of the 
dress, for the inhabitants to tend their cattle and go through the other parts of their 
business, not to speak of paying their landlords. Now, because too many of the High- 
landers have offended, to punish all the rest who have not, and who, I venture to say, 
are the greatest number, seems to me to be very unreasonable." 

The value of any remonstrances on the part of the President 
may be seen by the following quotation from the Anti-jacobin 
Review, Vol. xiii. : " When he visited London in the end of the 
year 1746, for the purpose of settling the accounts he had run 
with the loyal Highland Militia, he, as usual, went to Court. 
The King, whose ear had been offended with the repeated ac- 
counts of the conduct of the military, thus addressed him 'My 
Lord President, you are the person I most wished to see. 
Shocking reports have been circulated of the barbarities com- 
mitted by my army in the North ; your Lordship is, of all men, 
the most able to satisfy me.' ' I wish to God,' replied the Presi- 
dent, ' that I could, consistently with truth, assure your Majesty 
that such reports are destitute of foundation.' The King, as was 
his custom, turned abruptly away from the President, whose ac- 
counts next day were passed with difficulty, and as report says, 
the balance, which was immense, never fully paid up." This was 
the treatment given to the man who of all others rendered the 
greatest service to the Government in those critical times ; but 
the House of Hanover had discharged its debt of gratitude, and 
President Forbes was forgotten ! 

To provide against the possibility of their evading the law, a 
form of oath was devised, by which all persons were required to 
swear that they neither had nor should have any arms in their 
possession, and should never wear any portion of the Highland 
garb. This atrocious oath was as follows : 

" /, , do nvear, and as I shall have to answer to God at the great Day 

of Judgment, I have not nor shall have in my possession, any gun, sword, pistol, or 
arm whatsoever ; and never use any tartan, plaid, or any part of the Highland garb ; 
and if I do so, may I be cursed in my undertakings, family, and properly may I 
never set my wife and children, father, mother, and relations may I be killed in battle 
as a coward, and lie without Christian burial, in a strange land, far from the graves 
of my forefathers and kindred ; may all this come across me if I break my oath.'''' 

If the framer of this oath was not himself a Highlander, he 
at all events had a most intimate knowledge of their feelings and 



312 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

character, of which he took the fullest advantage. He well knew 
the Highlander's love for family and kin ; his dread of being 
stigmatised as a coward ; his warm attachment to the land of 
his birth ; and what an awful destiny he would consider it to 
" lie without Christian burial in a strange land, far from the 
graves of his forefathers." 

It was not to be expected that the Highlanders would 
submit to such treatment with a good grace; and though we have 
no account of their making direct resistance, they took every 
possible means of evading the law. "The obstinacy," says 
General Stewart, " with which the law was resisted proceeded no 
less from their attachment to the proscribed garb, than from the 
irksomeness of the garb forced upon them. Habituated to the 
free use of their limbs, the Highlanders could ill brook the 
restraint and confinement of the Lowland dress, and many were 
the little devices which they adopted to retain their ancient garb, 
without incurring the penalties of the Act devices which were 
calculated rather to excite a smile than rouse the vengeance of 
persecution. Instead of the prohibited tartan kilt, some wore 
pieces of blue, green, or red thin cloth, or course camblet, wrapped 
round the waist, and hanging down to the knees, like the 
feildag" [The feildag was the same as the feileadli-beag or 
kilt, but not plaited at the back.] " After being debarred the 
use of swords, they seldom went without a stick, and as a sub- 
stitute for the dirk, they carried a short knife stuck in the side 
pocket of the breeches, or inserted between the garter and the 
leg, by those who ventured to wear the hose. Some, who fearful 
of offending, or wished to render obedience to the law, which had 
not specified on what part of the body the breeches were to be 
worn, satisfied themselves with having in their possession this 
article of legal or loyal dress, which, either as the signal of sub- 
mission, or more probably to suit their own convenience when on 
journeys, they often suspended over their shoulders upon their 
sticks ; others who were more wary, or less submissive, sewed up 
the centre of the kilt with a few stitches between the thighs, 
which gave it something of the form of the trousers worn by 
Dutch skippers." We have to this day an instance of the con- 
tempt in which the breeches were held in the dance, " Seann- 
Triubhais," which is a burlesque on the awkward restraint of the 



THE DISARMING ACT. 313 

Lowland garb in comparison with their own free and handy 
dress. 

At first these evasions of the law were punished with con- 
siderable severity ; but at length its officers seemed to have 
assented to the interpretation put by the Highlanders upon the 
Act. This appears from the trial of a man of the name of 
Macalpin or Macgregor, from Breadalbane, in the year 1750, who 
. was acquitted on his proving that the kilt was stitched up in 
the middle. 

The Dress Act remained in force for thirty-five years, 
though latterly it may be said to have been in abeyance, par- 
ticularly in the well-affected districts ; where, after the first strip- 
ping process, it was not so rigidly enforced. "Although," 
remarks General Stewart, "the severity of this wantonness of 
power began to be relaxed in 1757, it was not till the year 1772 
that this Act, so ungenerous in itself, so unnecessary, and so 
galling, was repealed. In the session of that year the Duke of 
Montrose, then a member of the House of Commons, brought in 
a bill to repeal all penalties and restrictions on the Celtic Garb 
it passed without a dissenting voice." We may well imagine 
the jubilance with which this would be received in the High- 
lands, particularly among the older people who had witnessed 
the disgrace of their cherished costume. 

Donnachadh Ban gave vent to his joy on the occasion. He 
says in 

ORAN DO 'N EIDEADH GHAIDHEALACH. 

Fhuair mi naidheachd as ur, 

Tha taitinn ri rim mo chrldh, 

Gu faigheamaid fasan na duthch', 

A chleachd sinn an tus air tim. 

O'n tha sinn le glaineachan Ian, 

A' bruidhinn air maran binn, 

So i deoch-slainte Mhontrois, 

A sheasamh a choir so dhuinn. 

Chunna' mi 'n diugh an Dun-eideann, 
Comunn na f&le cruinn, 
Litir an fhortain thug sgeul, 
Air toiseach an eibhnis dhuinn. 
Piop gu loinneil an gleus, 
Air soilleireachd reidh an tuim ; 
Thug sinn am follais ar 'n eideadh, 
A's co their reubail ruinn ? 



3H THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Deich bliadhna fichead a's corr, 

Bha casag de 'n chlo ma' r druim, 

Fhuair sinn ad agus cle&c, 

'S cha bhuineadh an seors' ud dhuinn. 

Bucail a dunadh ar br6g, 

'S e 'm barr-iall bu bhoiche leinn, 

Rinn an droch f hasan a bh' oirnn', 

Na bodaich d' ar 6igridh ghrinn. 

Fhuair sinn an cothrom an drkst, 
A thoilicheas grkdh gach duthch', 
Comas ar culaidh chur oirnn 
Gun fharaidh de phbr nan Itib ; 
Tha sinn a nis mar is coir, 
A's taitnidh an seol r'ar sdil, 
Chur sinn a' bhrigis air lar, 
'S cha tig i gu brath a cuil. 

Chuir sinn a suas an deise, 
Bhios uallach, freagarach, dhuinn, 
Breacan an fheile phreasaich 
A's peiteag de 'n eudach for, 
C6t' a chadath nan ball ; 
Am bitheadh a' charnaid dlu, , 
Osan nach ceangail ar ceum, 
'S nach ruigeadh mar reis an glun. 

The garb was now, however, so long forbidden, and the 
habits and circumstances of the people so much changed, that, 
even after the repeal of the Act, the dress was not universally 
resumed. The younger generation had, by force of habit, be- 
come reconciled to the change, while the older portion could 
hardly be expected to resume the costume after thirty-five years 
of proscription. The "March of Progress and Civilisation" which 
followed the suppression of the rebellion, had brought so many 
changes in its wake, that now, the people found themselves in 
such altered circumstances that they could hardly resume the 
dress, however willing they might be. These changes were 
accelerated by the measures introduced by Government for the 
abolition of hereditary jurisdictions, and the consequent over- 
throw of the power of the chiefs, who now found time hanging 
idly on their hands. They had no further use for the faithful 
clansmen by whose claymores they had held their lands; their 
ideas had become modernised and their expenditure had in- 
creased to such an extent that to keep pace with their Saxon 
compeers, their limited incomes must be increased, and to this 



DONALD OG MACAULAY. 315 

cause may be traced the many painful changes which subse- 
quently took place. 

The trusty clansman, who lived contented, comfortable, and 
happy on his small patch of land, tending his flock and herds 
with fearless confidence in the equity of the leader of the people, 
had to make way for the speculative capitalists and land jobbers 
from the South, to whose promises of large increase of rents, the 
chiefs lent a willing ear. Thus began those changes which have 
since exerted a most baneful influence on the character, comfort, 
and independence of the Highlanders. Need we wonder then, 
that the repeal of the Act found the Highlanders so much altered 
in spirit as to prevent the dress again coming into general use. 
" Considering the severity of the law against the garb," says 
General Stewart, " nothing but the partiality of the people could 
have prevented its going entirely into disuse. The prohibitory 
laws were so long in force, that more than two-thirds of the 
generation who saw them enacted passed away before their 
repeal. The youth of the latter period knew it only as an illegal 
garb, to be worn only by stealth, under the fear of imprisonment 
and transportation. Breeches, by force of habit, had become so 
common, that it is remarkable how the plaid and philabeg 
( Feilead/t-beag) were resumed at all." 

J. G. MACKAY. 



DONALD OG MACAULAY. 

DONALD OG MACAULAY, great-grandson of the famous Donald 
Cam Macaulay, was left an orphan at the early age of fifteen, by 
the death of his father, and on this child depended the welfare 
of all the rest of the family. But notwithstanding the hardships 
and cares of his youth, he became, when he grew up, a man of 
gigantic size and corresponding strength, and of this latter 
attribute many stories and songs are still extant in the Western 
Isles. He had one defect, however his swordmanship which, 
in comparison with the skill displayed by some of his contem- 
poraries, was quite indifferent. He was too proud, however, to 
acknowledge that he lacked the skill, or that he was second to 
any man in the Highlands in the handling of the weapon. 



316 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

At that period there lived at Berneray, in Harris, a far- 
famed swordsman named Donald Roy Macleod, and a report or 
some prodigious sword feats performed by him having reached 
Donald Og Macaulay, the latter sent him a challenge. He pro- 
posed that Macleod should meet him with twelve men at Tolma- 
chan,then a hamlet between Amhainnsuidh and Bun-amhainnader, 
in Harris, on a given day. " Tell Macleod," said Macaulay to the 
messenger, " that I hear he is an expert swordsman, and that I 
am determined to try his skill." " Tell your master," answered 
Macleod, "that I never considered myself an adept in the 
handling of that weapon, and that I thought, now that I am old 
and grey-haired, I should go down to the grave without any 
little skill I may possess being called into requisition. But, 
little as my knowledge of swordmanship is, I accept Macaulay's 
challenge with pleasure, and will meet him at his own time and 
place." Early on the morning of the day appointed for the duel 
at Tolmachan, Donald Roy and his twelve men took boat to 
Rodel, and travelled thence to Torgabost, whence they again 
took boat for Loch Meabhag-a-chuain there is a Meabhag-a- 
cJniain and a Meabhag-nam-beann in Harris a loch close to 
Tolmachan. 

At the time there lived at Torgabost a man called Aonghas 
'ic Dhonachaidh 'ic Aor.ghais, or Angus, son of Duncan, son of 
Angus. He was not much to look at, being slender of build, and 
small in stature, but what Angus wanted in size he possessed in 
skill, especially as a swordsman. Angus's house was close to the 
shore, and seeing Donald Roy and his men passing, and fearing 
that some evil might befall them (for he knew where they were 
going), he ran into his house, and bid his wife put a creap, i.e., a 
lump of dough, into the fire at once, while he would get his 
sword ready, as he was going to Tolmachan to fight a duel for 
Donald Roy of Berneray. The creap, which was a common 
lunch carried by persons going a journey in the Highlands in 
those days, was only half cooked when Angus was ready, and 
taking it out of the fire, and putting it into his pocket, he started 
for Tolmachan. 

Angus had to go by Tarbert, so that he had more than 
eighteen miles to travel to the rendezvous. He was, however, so 
light of foot, that he was at the place almost as soon as Donald 



DONALD OG MACAULAY. 317 

Roy and his party. On seeing Angus coming up, Donald Og 
Macaulay, who had arrived with his men a short time before, 
enquired of Donald Roy, Who was that insignificant creature 
approaching them ? " He will speak for himself when he comes," 
said Donald, who at once recognised Angus, and guessed 
his purpose. As soon as he came up to them, Angus said to 
Macaulay: " y S mise do dhuine (I am your man.) And I am 
sure I am the smallest of all the men Donald Roy brought here. 
The Harris motto is, ' The weakest to the front,' so here I am 
guard yourself!" 

Macaulay, stung by the taunt, rushed at Angus furiously, 
~and a sharp fight followed. For some time Angus confined 
himself to simply warding off Macaulay's blows ; but, at length, 
observing an oportunity, he made a slash at his adversary's 
face, taking the whisker, clean off his right cheek. Macaulay 
now struck at Angus more recklessly than ever, but the latter by 
another skilful pass, cut the button from the neck of Macaulay's 
shirt. " This is your last chance, Macaulay," said Angus, "your 
head shall come off by the next stroke." On this, Macaulay 
thought discretion the better part of valour, threw down his 
sword, and frankly acknowledged that he had met his match and 
had been defeated. 

Donald Og Macaulay parted with Donald Roy and Angus 
on the best of terms, and this state of matters continued until 
Macaulay's death, which took place soon after in the following 
manner : Donald Og had occasion to go to an island off the 
coast of Lewis, and for this purpose he ordered his boat to be 
ready at a certain time. From some cause or another his orders 
were neglected, which, it is said, excited his feelings so much 
that his heart burst, and he died almost immediately. The fol- 
lowing dirge was composed to his memory : 

'S luath a thainig an fhras oirn, 

'S og a rinn i ar 'n abhan aiseag o thiom ; 

Is trie am bais oirn a bagairt, 

'S e ri tighinn mar ghadaich san oidhche ; 

Am fear as fearr tha air f haicionn 

Tha e diobradh a bhrachd anns' gach ni ; 

'S tha gach linn a dol seachad, 

Eadar 'n Timbirn, an f haidhe, 's an Righ. 



3i8 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Dhomhsa b'aithne do nadur, 

Nuair a bha thu na d' ailleagan og ; 

Sud a ri is bi' tu araidh, 

Nan ceud armunn a 'g ol. 

Cha robh cron ort ri arach, 

Aig aon duine don alach tha beo ; 

Ach nach fuilingeadh tu tamailt, 

Do aon duine air na chaireadh an dorn. 

*S beag an t-iognadh do cheile 

'Bhi gu dubhach, trom, deurach, fo Icon ; 

C' ait am faighear fear t'aogaisg, 

Ann a fursuingeachd chuildean do shloigh ? 

'S tu a chitheadh le cheile, 

Far an stadadh an eucoir 's a choir ; 

'S tu b'urrainn ga'n reiteach 

Le uirigleadh ghleusta do bheoil. 

Cha bu sgair' air mo naigheachd, 

Gu 'm bu tu fear-tighe nach gann ; 

An an gliocas is tuigse, 

Thug Dia dhuit mor mhisneachd na cheann. 

'S bha tlachd air do chosnadh, 

'S cha 'n f haca' thu riamh cosgais no call ; 

Bu trie iomradh do phailteis 

An a cearnaibh nach f hacas thu ann. 

Cha b'ann air islead a gharaidh 
Bu mhaith leat bhi barcadh a steach ; 
Ach air 'n aon mhir a b' airde 
Far an ruigeadh do lamhan air streap. 
Chuir thu romhad na b'aill leat 
Do chriochanaibh asaid bha ceart, 
'S cha b'e spiocaire 'n airdean 
Bha stri ri' do nadar 'na gleachd. 

Ann a bhi 'g ionndran do mhaitheas, 

Tha rud againn ri ratha gu leor ; 

Bu neo-stoirmeal do ghluasad 

'S cha bhitheadh an tuagh mu do shroil. 

Cha'n eil sinne dheth 'm buannachd 

Ged tha d' anam-sa shuas an an gloir ; 

Ach se dh -innseas sin fathast, 

Am fear is faide gheibh latha dhinn beo. 

We have often heard this lament sung in the West Highlands to 
a beautiful and melancholy air. We do not think it was ever 
written out in full until we did so between the years 1860-64. 

MACIAIN. 



319 



MORE ABOUT SELLAR AND THE SUTHERLAND 
CLEARANCES. 



COLONEL STEWART of Garth, when collecting the materials for 
his " Sketches of the Highlanders " incomparably the best book 
ever written on the Highlands wrote, among others, to Colonel 
Duncan Macpherson of Cluny, for information about the hair- 
breadth escapes of his father after the battle of Culloden, and 
other questions, especially those connected with the management 
~of Highland property within his own recollection and experience. 
Cluny was born in 1750, and was, therefore, at this date (1817), 
in the sixty-seventh year of his age full of knowledge derived 
from personal observation and experience of the state of the 
country, and the actual condition of the people. After detail- 
ing a most interesting account of Cluny's wanderings, the de- 
votion of his followers, his many and almost miraculous escapes 
from capture by the Government troops, and the raising of the 
Old 7 ist, or Eraser's Highlanders, in which he had himself long 
and gallantly served, he concluded a long letter, dated " Cluny 
House, 9th June 1817," in the following terms : 

" I am clearly of your opinion that much of the attach- 
ment of the people to their superiors is unncessarily lost, though 
I cannot impute the whole blame to proprietors. In many in- 
stances the people themselves are entirely in the fault, and in 
other cases factors abuse the trust reposed in them, and, of 
course, the proprietor gets the whole blame of their oppressions. 
You have given two very striking and opposite instances, which 
may serve to illustrate the situation of landlord and tenant all 
over the nation. I mean Sir George Stewart, and the Earl of 
Breadalbane. The one has well-paid rents, and the offer of 
a large sum of money besides for his accommodation, while 
the other with difficulty gets one-tenth of his. If a tenant 
has a fair bargain of his farm, it is an absurdity to suppose 
that one bad year will distress him, but when the rent is so 
racked that he is only struggling in the best of times, a very 
little falling off in prices or seasons will totally ruin him, and 
I am sorry to say that much of the present distress is to be 



320 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

attributed to that cause. I am happy to have it in my power to 
tell you that my rents were all paid, that is, to a mere trifle, and 
even that trifle due by a few improvident individuals who would 
be equally in arrear in the best of times. The Duke of Gordon 
has not received more than one-half his rents either in Lochaber 
or Badenoch, but I have reason to believe his Grace's rents were 
better paid in the low country. Belville has not exceeded one- 
tenth, and though I do not exactly know in what proportion the 
Invereshie rent was paid, yet I know that it was a bad collection. 
The conduct of the family of Stafford is certainly unaccountable, 
for I am credibly informed that the old tenants offered a higher 
rent than those that came from England, consequently they are 
losers in every respect. I know it will be said by those who are 
advocates for depopulating the country that they could not 
stand to their offer, but neither could their successors, for a very 
large deduction has already been given them, and one man in 
particular has got Jive hundred pounds down. Upon the whole, 
it is clear that the Marquis of Stafford was led into those arrange- 
ments (so disgraceful to the present age) by speculative men that 
wish to overturn the old system at once, without considering that 
their plans were at least only applicable to the present moment, 
and that such changes, even if necessary, should be done 
gradually and with great caution. I cannot dismiss this subject 
without making a few remarks on the conduct of Lady Stafford, 
and you will be astonished to learn that when her old and faith- 
ful adherents, who had given her such repeated proofs of their at- 
tachment, were cruelly oppressed by a factor, that she should re- 
fuse to listen to their complaints, and when that factor was tried 
for his life on charges of cruelty, oppression, and murder, it is 
most unaccountable that her Ladyship should exert all her in- 
fluence to screen him from the punishment which he so richly de- 
served. I have only to add that, as far as my own observations 
extend, much of the evil complained of arises from the absence 
of proprietors from their properties, by which they are in a great 
measure unacquainted with the real state of their tenants, and 
consequently open to every species of advice and misrepre- 
sentation." 

This letter was written within less than a year of Patrick 
Sellar's trial at Inverness, and the comments of a landed proprietor 



SELLAR AND SUTHERLAND CLEARANCES. 321 

of Cluny's age, high social position, and experience, written at the 
time, will be read with much interest at present Only the 
substance of the letter was published by Colonel Stewart, in the 
" Sketches ;" and the Editor of the Celtic Magazine, unfortunately 
quite forgot that he had an authentic printed copy of it in his 
possession, when writing The History of the HigJdand Clearances, 
kindly given him several years ago by the present Chief. 

The following communication from one of the leading minis- 
ters in Nova-Scotia, and one of the most accomplished living 
Gaelic scholars, will prove interesting in the same connection : 

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

BARNEY'S RIVER, NOVA SCOTIA, March 4th, 1884. 

SIR, I have received your "Isle of Skye," with Patrick Sellar's Trial. I have 
read them with great interest. Sellar's deeds of cruelty were made known to me 
before by the people from Sutherlandshire in my congregation here, but the one-half 
was not told of his work. I read the trial to an old man of 75 years, who was an eye- 
witness to some of the deeds of that time when he was a little boy. He remembers 
seeing a party of soldiers marching up and down along the banks of the Brora River, 
not far from Golspie. He said that a satire or lampoon had been composed on Sellar, 
but he could repeat only one stanza of it. When he came to the chorus he almost 
jumped up out of the chair ; the old spirit revived in him; his horror awakened at the 
bare mention of Sellar's name, whose memory is held in execration by the people 
here who came from Sutherland. 

The song was long remembered, and used to be sung by the old people who had 
been driven from their homes and came to live here, especially by the descendants of 
John Sutherland of the Kilt, commonly called "Iain Muilleir." About the year 
1735 John Sutherland was born in the parish of Clyne, and was a boy, about ten 
years old, when the battle of Culloden was fought. He remembered the battle and a 
skirmish also at the Little Ferry between Golspie and Dornoch. In his younger days 
he was employed as a forester or deer-keeper by William, Earl of Sutherland, and he 
lived on the Sutherland estate all his life, until the year 1820, when he was evicted 
from his house and home by Sellar, at the age of 85. Because he would not willingly 
remove he was forcibly ejected, and carried as a prisoner to Dornoch jail, where he 
was confined for some time, with other persons, until he was liberated at the request 
of the Countess Elizabeth, who, on consideration of the services he had rendered to 
her father and family, ordered him to be set at libjrty. 

He emigrated to Nova Scotia in 1821, and settled here at Barney's River with 
his family, consisting of two sons and three daughters. He never wore a pair of 
trowsers in his life, and as he always wore the kilt he was known here by the name of 
" Bodach-an-fheilidh" the kilt-man, or John Sutherland of the kilt. He lived till 
March 1840, and died at the age of 105 years. His wife, Elizabeth Mackay, was five 
years younger than he, but lived sixteen years after him, so that she was 116 years old 
at the time of her death, in March 1856. His eldest daughter, who was known by the 
name of " Sine Mhor" Big Jane, lived to be 105 years old ; she died in 1877. This 
Big Jane was a heroine ; and when the constables and officers were sent to 



322 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

eject her father and other people, she, with a gang of women, opposed and 
attacked them. Big Jane took hold of the summons in her teeth as Lochiel 
did of the Englishman's throat at Achadalew, and though she was thrown 
down on the ground by the constables who held her fast, she tore it in pieces with 
her teeth. Her daughter "Sine Bheag" Little Jane, a girl of sixteen, was struck with 
a stick by one of the constables; but the girl's uncle, Alexander Sutherland, rushed 
in to protect his niece, and received a blow from Brander's staff on the top of the 
head. These cruelties were never forgotten by the people ; they were indelibly im- 
printed on their minds ; they are still remembered by the descendants of John Suther- 
land of the Kilt, wht>se posterity live here to the sixth generation. 

The satire on Sellar is now almost forgotten; some odd verses of it are remem- 
bered by one here and there. I send you a copy of all I could collect of it. Likely 
it will be remembered by old persons in the parish of Clyne, where it was origin- 
ally composed. It is a curiosity in the history of that period. I would like to have 
the whole of it. Whenever it is repeated here by any of the people, the old animus 
towards Sellar appears and breaks forth. He has certainly gained for himself an 
unenviable reputation. 

As you have been taking so, much interest in Sellar's doings in Sutherland, I 
thought the above worth sending to you. Yours truly, 

D. B. BLAIR. 

[We may inform our reverend correspondent that twelve verses of the " Satire " 
on Sellar were published last year in the Oban Times, and afterwards circulated in slips. 
We shall try to procure and send him a copy. Mr Blair sends us some verses not in- 
cluded in the published version. ED. C. M.] 



MACDONALD OF SCOTUS AND HIS SON IN 1745. Macdonald of 
Scothouse came to pass the day with me. He was endowed with a fine figure and a 
prepossessing address, joined to that of an agreeable exterior, and had all the qualities 
of soul which ordinarily distinguish the honourable and gallant man brave, polite, 
obliging, of fine spirit and sound judgment. As he was naturally of a gay disposition, 
I perceived his melancholy on his entering my dwelling. On asking him the cause, 
this worthy man looked at me, his eyes bathed in tears " Ah, my friend, you do not 
know what it is to be a father. I am of this detachment which must depart this even- 
ing to attack Lord Loudon. You do not know that a son whom I adore is with him 
an officer in his regiment. I believed myself fortunate in obtaining that rank for this 
dear boy, not being able to foresee the descent of Prince Charles -Edward into Scotland. 
Perhaps to-morrow I shall have the grief to kill my son with my own hand, and that 
the same ball that I shall fire off in my defence may occasion from myself a death the 
most cruel ! In going with the detachment I may be able to save his life ; if I do not 
march, some other may kill him." The recital of poor Scothouse rent my heart. I 
retained him the whole day at my house, endeavouring to dissipate his fears as much 
as I possibly could, and making him promise on parting to come straight to my house 
on leaving the boat. The next day, at evening, I heard a great knock at my door. I 
ran thither, and perceived the good father holding a young man by the hand, of a jolly 
figure, who cried to me, his ejes sparkling with joy, " Behold, my friend, the one 
who yesterday caused all my alarms. I have taken him prisoner myself ; and when I 
had hold of him he embraced me fervently, not regarding the others who were present." 
I then saw him shed tears of joy, very different from those of the night before. 
Memoirs of the Chevalier de Johnstons . 



3^3 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 
BY ALEXANDER MACBAIN, M.A., F.S.A. SCOT. 

XIII. CELTIC WORSHIP AND RITES. 

A BRIEF glance at the places and rites of worship and burial 
among the ancient Celts will conclude the religious aspect of their 
Mythology. The Celts worshipped in temples and in groves ; 
both are frequently referred to in the classical writers. Unfor- 
tunately no description of any Celtic temple is vouchsafed us ; 
the natural conclusion we must come to is that they must have 
been similar, however rude, to the temples of the kindred races 
of Greece and Rome. Celtic houses were constructed of wood : 
" great houses," says Strabo, " arched, constructed of planks and 
wicker, and covered with a heavy thatched roof." They were 
circular, high, and with either a conical or domed roof. This de- 
scription applies to the very earliest Celtic buildings, those of 
Britain and rural Gaul, for the Gauls of Caesar's time had towns 
with walls, streets and market places, as opposed to the " dunum," 
the stockaded hill-top or fortified forest-clearing, of their insular 
brethren. The Gaulish temples must, therefore, have been of 
stone, but the British temples were most likely constructed, like 
the houses, of wood. The earliest Christian churches were also 
made of wood, and, for the most part, clearly consisted of the old 
heathen temples consecrated to Christian use. " The temples of 
the Idols in Britain," says Pope Gregory (A.D. 601), "ought not to 
be destroyed ; but let the idols that are in them be destroyed ; 
let holy water be made and sprinkled in the said temples ; let 
altars be erected and relics placed." There are no remains of 
either Celtic heathen temples or early Christian churches. The 
theory that the so-called " Druid " circles were Celtic temples 
is refuted by the two facts that the Celts were Aryans with 
Aryan culture, and that they made use of metal even iron 
tools from the earliest period we have record of them. The rude 
stone circles are evidently not the work of a race well acquainted 
with the use of metal. It is quite true that in religious ceremonies 
old phases of culture, whether of dress, instruments, or buildings, 
survive in a higher stage of civilisation. Thus the flint knife of 



324 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

the " stone " age was used on solemn occasions at the Jewish cir- 
cumcision, and at the sacrifices of old Carthage and Rome ; and 
the gowns of modern clergymen are the survivals of Middle- Age 
dresses. This, however, operates but to a limited extent ; the 
Jewish temple, unlike their rude stone altars, was built of hewn 
stone, made ready before being brought to the temple, so that 
" there was neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard 
in the house while it was building." In this way a metal-using 
people reconciled the old with the new phase of culture, and we 
cannot suppose that the Celts, even if they did use stone circles, 
which is most improbable, would not have reconciled them to 
their state of culture by dressing and shaping the stones, as, 
indeed, the Bronze Age builders of Stonehenge had begun to do. 
Along with temples, the classical writers continually mention 
" groves " as especial places where Celtic worship was conducted. 
A grove was a secret recess embowered by tall trees, and marked 
by votive offerings, insignia of the gods, and an altar of stone, or 
some equivalent. The distinguishing features of a grove were 
secrecy and sacredness. Groves are prior in time to temples, and 
Grimm has analysed the Teutonic words for " temple" to signify 
" wood" or even "grove." He says "The earliest seat of heathen 
worship was in groves, whether on mountain or in pleasant mead ; 
there the first temples were afterwards built, and there also were 
the tribunals of the nation." The classical words for temple 
Latin, temphim, Greek, temenos, both from the root tern, to cut, 
mean, originally, a " clearing " a forest clearing, in fact. The 
Greek temenos, which may mean a sacred grove, is often used in 
speaking of Celtic places of worship. The Gaulish word of like 
signification was nemeton, which appears in several place-names in 
Britain, Gaul, and Asia Minor; in the latter country the Galatian 
council of the twelve tetrarchies met at a place called Drynemeton, 
that is, " oak-grove." In old Irish, the word appears as nemed, a 
chapel, and is the same in root as the Gaelic neamh, heaven, and 
the Latin newus, a grove. Lucan, in the following lines, gives us 
a vivid description of a Gaulish grove, dwelling on the superstitions 
and miracles connected with it, and alluding to the worship of 
the " secretum illud," the abstract existence, which Tacitus says 
the Germans reverenced, who, here as elsewhere in religion, 
differed but little from the Celts. 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 325 

" A grove, inviolate from length of age, 
With interwoven branches' mazy cage, 
Enclosed a darkened space of earth and air, 
With chilly shades, where sun could enter ne'er. 
There not the rustic gods nor satyrs sport, 
Nor sylvans, gods of groves, with nymphs resort ; 
But barbarous priests, on altars dire, adore 
Their gods, and stain each tree with human gore. 
If miracles of old can be received 
And pious tales of gods can be believed, 
There not the feathered songster builds her nest, 
Nor lonely dens conceal the savage beast ; 
There no tempestuous winds presume to fly, 
Ev'n lightnings glance aloof, obliquely by. 
Nor ever breezes lift or lay the leaves, 
But shivering horror in the branches heaves : 
The plenteous stream the darkened fountains leaves : 
The images of gods, a mournful band, 
Have ne'er been shaped so rude by artist's hand 
Misshapen forms with limbs lopped off forth stand. 
The very place, with oaks all hoar and drear, 
Inspires the gazer's soul with numbing fear : 
'Tjs not the deities of wonted form 
They worship thus 'mid terrors and alarm, 
But gods unknown it but increases fear 
They do not know the gods they so revere. 
Oft, as fame tells, the earth in throbs of woe 
Is heard to groan from hollow depths below ; 
The baleful yew, though dead, has oft been seen, 
To rise from earth and spring with dusky green ; 
With sparkling flames the trees, unburning, shine, 
And round their boles prodigious serpents twine. 
The pious worshippers approach not near, 
But shun their gods and kneel with distant fear ; 
The priest himself, when Phoebus, god of light, 
Rolling, has reached his full meridian height, 
Or night rules all, dreads to approach the place 
And shuns the master of the grove to face. " 

The favourite tree among the Gauls for groves was the oak ; 
" the Druids," says Pliny, " choose groves of oak and conduct no 
sacrifice without its leaf," and he suggests that the name Druid 
is from the same root as Greek Drus, an oak, a derivation which 
is yet the only one worth consideration of the many suggested. 
The sacredness of groves and of trees has not yet died out among 
the Celts. In Ireland it is counted especially unlucky to cut 
down trees in raths and such early structures. Mr Kinahan, in 

z 



326 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

the " Folklore Record " for 1882, says : " A man, near Kilma- 
ganny, County Kilkenny, came to me in a great state of mind 
one morning, as the previous night some one had cut a thorn 
tree in a rath on his land, and some ill-luck must come to him 
before the end of the year. I tried to console him by saying the 
year [it being October] was nearly out, so that he would probably 
live out the charm, but curiously enough before Christmas he 
buried a fine girl of a daughter." 

The Celts made use of statues in their worship : Caesar 
mentions that there were very many statues of Mercury, and 
other writers, as Lucan, in the lines quoted above, bear testimony 
to the same fact. Before they used images, they were content 
with emblems of the gods ; thus we are told by a writer of the 
second century that the Celts worshipped Zeus, and that a tall 
oak represented his statue, a reference which again puts the Celts 
on a level with the Germans of Tacitus, who had no statues, and 
even thought it an impiety to represent celestial grandeur in 
human shape. Some remains of Gaulish art in statue-making 
have weathered the ravages of ages, and of these the statuettes of 
Taranis are the most numerous and interesting. Uninfluenced 
by Roman or Greek art, their statues were rude and unshapely, 
as Lucan says : " Simulacraque maesta deorum arte carent." 
Gildas speaks of the grim-faced idols mouldering in the deserted 
temples ; and idols of bronze to the number of nineteen were dug 
up at Devizes in 1714. A true Celtic statue called by its Breton 
votaries the " Groah-Goard," and known as the " Venus of Qui- 
nipily" was worshipped in Britanny till the 1 7th century. It 
was a huge misshapen figure, 7 feet high with a large and un- 
couth body, a flattened bust, and eyes, nose, and mouth like 
those of an Egyptian idol. We meet in Irish history with the 
mystical figure of Crom or Crom-Cruaich, king-idol of Erin, first, 
in the reign of King Tiernmas (1543 B.C.), who, we are told, died 
along with three-fourths of his people whilst they were " ic adrad 
Chroim-Chroich, rig idaill hErenn," and, a second time, in St 
Patrick's life, who found at Mag Slecht (" adoration plain ") in 
Cavan, Crom-Cruaich, the chief idol of Erin, covered with gold 
and silver, and having twelve other idols about it covered with 
brass. The saint caused the earth to swallow these up as far as 
their heads, where they still were, as a sign of the miracle, when 
the pious Middle-Age scribe was writing. 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 327 

The Gaulish altars and also the Gaelic altars were pillars of 
stone inscribed with emblems of the sun and moon, or a beast, 
bird, or something which symbolised some force of nature 
"dealba nan dula" representations of the elements, as Cormac 
calls them. Another feature of Celtic groves and temples con- 
sisted of the many votive tablets and images, with representation 
of limbs, faces, and bodily parts, hung up on the walls or sus- 
pended from the trees. These were set up as thank-offerings 
for rescue from some sickness or pain in the part represented, or 
with a view that relief from pain might come.. The "rag-bush" 
by the modern wells, and the crutches and other accessories of 
infirmities left at holy wells, are a remnant of ancient and analo- 
gous beliefs in the deities of the fountains. A more ghastly 
sight, however, would be presented by the many heads of animals, 
and, possibly, of men hung up in the groves, like trophies of the 
chase, but really intended as votive offerings, and rendered, at 
times, all the ghastlier by having their mouths prized and kept 
open by sticks of wood. This custom is still kept in remem- 
brance in modern architectural designs. 

For Celtic religious rites we have to trust almost entirely, in 
attempting to discover them, to the superstitions and customs of 
Christian and modern times. Superstition is the survival, in 
another phase of culture, of earlier religion and science. At 
present we shall only deal with some customs and superstitions 
that appear to bear on Celtic religious ritual, leaving the wider 
question of quaint customs and superstitions to be dealt with 
afterwards. The classical writers mention but little of Celtic 
rites. The human sacrifices attracted most attention : " They 
sacrifice men," says Diodorus, " striking them at the place above 
the diaphragm [on the back, Strabo says], and from their fall, the 
convulsion of the limbs and the flow of the blood, they predict 
the future." When the Romans put a stop to their human 
sacrifices, vestiges, however, remained, as Mela says, of the old 
but abolished savagery, and "just as they refrain from going the 
whole length of slaughter, they nevertheless touch and graze the 
persons devoted to sacrifice after bringing them to the altars." 
An interesting parallel to this in modern times occurs in the 
Samoan islands. There cannibalism has for ages been unknown, 
yet the punishment that carries the highest disgrace among them 



328 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

is to put the delinquent into a cold oven, an evident survival from 
the time when such a person would be roasted and eaten. The 
remembrance of these old Celtic human sacrifices was until lately 
kept up at the Beltane fires. 

The only religious rites of any consequence that can be 
pointed to are those connected with the worship of fire and the 
changes of the year. It must not be supposed that the Celts 
were greater worshippers of fire, sun, and moon than the other 
European nations, and that this worship was distinctive of them. 
The fire worship was equally as strong among Teutons, Romans, 
and Greeks as among the Celts, and quite as long maintained into 
modern times. But Celtic idiosyncracies bring some features of 
the worship and practices into greater prominence. The custom 
of showing reverence by walking round persons or things, keep- 
ing the right hand towards them, is derived from the apparent 
course of the sun, and is known as " deiseil " (dextralis), " right- 
hand-wise." In India the old name for the custom is similarly 
the " right-hand-turn," dakshiman kri. The " need-fire " Gaelic, 
teine-eiginn is a " survival " from a very ancient phase of culture, 
and, possibly, from a time when men lived in a warmer climate, 
and the rubbing of sticks easily produced fire. It is also signifi- 
cant that, in the best preserved form of the custom, the need-fire 
makers must have no metal about them, a survival which points 
to the Stone Age. Another general fact in regard to Celtic 
need-fire was that all the district fires within sight had previously 
to be extinguished, to be re- lighted only from the pure need- fire. 
The need-fire was variously produced. In Mull, about 1767, a 
hill-top was selected, within sight of which all fires were put out, 
and then the pure fire was produced by turning a wheel over nine 
spindles of wood until the friction caused combustion. Martin in 
his " Western Isles " thus describes it : " The tinegin they used 
as an antidote against the plague or murrain in cattle, and it was 
performed thus All the fires in the parish were extinguished, and 
then eighty-one married men, being thought the necessary num- 
ber for effecting this design, took two great planks of wood, and 
nine of them were employed by turns, who by their united efforts 
rubbed one of the planks against the other until the heat thereof 
produced fire ; and from this fire each family is supplied with 
new fire, which is no sooner kindled than a pot full of water is 



CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. 329 

quickly set on it, and afterwards sprinkled on the people infected 
with the plague or upon the cattle that have the murrain." In 
Caithness the friction was produced by working a horizontal 
wooden bar, supplied with levers, in two upright pieces of wood, 
into which it was inserted at each end. In all cases, within 
Christian historic times, the need-fire was lighted as a charm 
against the plague, whether it attacked men or cattle. Fire has 
always been considered the purifier par excellence, and clearly no 
fire could be so pure as the need-fire, which was there and then 
produced for the first time. But though latterly restricted to 
being a charm against the plague, the need-fire shows clear traces 
of a higher religious purpose. These fires were lighted at the great 
festivals of the solar and lunar year, and from them all the fires 
of the neighbourhood, previously extinguished, were re-lighted. 
Priests, we know, presided at these sacred fires, and men and 
cattle were passed through them, as Cormac and others tell us. 
One of St Patrick's first struggles with King Loegaire was over 
the sacred Beltane (?) fire. " Fire is kindled by him at that 
place on Easter Eve," says a Middle- Irish life of the saint ; 
" Loegaire is enraged when he sees the fire. For that was a pro- 
hibition of Tara which the Gael had, and no one durst kindle a 
fire in Ireland on that day until it had been kindled first at Tara 
at the solemnity. And the Druids said ' unless that fire be 
quenched before this night, he whose fire it is shall have the 
kingdom of Ireland for ever.' " But that fire was not quenched, 
and the boldness of the missionary, along with the inevitable 
miracles, brought Loegaire and his people to the side of the Saint 
and Christianity. 



" THE HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS," now in the press, by Alexander 
Mackenzie, Editor of the Celtic Magazine, will be issued in a handsome volume, uni- 
form with his History of the Mackenzies and his History of the Macdonalds and Lords 
of the Isles, in July, or early in August next. Price to Subscribers whose names 
will be printed in the book One Guinea. Any remaining, unsubscribed, copies will, 
immediately on publication, be charged i. IDS. The issue is limited to 500 copies, 
demy octavo. Seventy-five copies are being printed on large paper, demy quarto, at 
a Guinea and a-half to subscribers; any remaining copies will be charged 2. IDS. 
The complete work will contain, in addition to the General History of the Clan, 
Biographies of General Sir Allan Cameron of Erracht ; Colonel John Cameron of 
Fassiefern ; Dr Archibald Cameron ; and other distinguished members of the Clan. 
The Camerons of Glenevis, Erracht, Callart, Fassiefern, and others, will be noticed at 
length under separate headings. Intending Subscribers should send in their names 
without delay, to A. & W. MACKENZIE, INVERNESS. 



330 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

OLD HIGHLAND REMEDIES. 

I. 

RECENTLY a limited edition of a very rare book Martin's 
Western Islands of Scotland has been published. It contains 
many curious things, among them an account of the remedies 
used in those days (1695), previously, and to some extent since, 
in the Highlands and Islands of the West, for all kinds of ailments 
to which man or beast was liable. It is thought that a brief 
reference to some of these, with a few examples taken from other 
sources, may prove interesting to the reader. We shall first deal 
with those remedies used for the ailments of the people them- 
selves, after which we may have something to say about those 
applied for the cure of cattle, and other animals. 

Two or three hundred years ago, such a person as a profes- 
sional doctor was unknown in the Highlands. The people were 
naturally healthy, and the little ailments which affected them were 
quickly relieved by some simple concoction of herbs. They found 
healing in the roots, stones, shells, and other objects of nature 
which lay close at hand, and although at times their remedies 
showed traces of superstition, in general they served their pur- 
pose well enough. Some of these remedies are used in the 
Highlands to the present day, and their efficacy is in many in- 
stances undoubted. What, for example, can be better for a 
cough than plenty brochan or gruel and butter, which was -and 
is still the sovereign cure for that complaint in the Western Isles ? 
Nettle roots and the roots of reeds boiled in water with yeast was 
also used. Speaking of the men of Lewis, Martin says, when the 
uvula falls they cut it in this curious manner " They take a long 
quill, and putting a horse-hair double into it, make a noose at the 
end of the quill, and putting it about the lower end of the uvula, 
they cut off from the uvula all that is below the hair with a pair 
of scissors ; and then the patient swallows a little bread and 
cheese, which cures him. This operation is not attended with 
the least inconvenience, and cures the distemper so that it never 
returns." He tells us that John Campbell, the forester of Harris, 
when he had caught a cold, walked into the sea with his clothes 



OLD HIGHLAND REMEDIES. 331 

on, and then went to bed in his wet garments, but well wrapped 
up in the bedclothes, and the perspiration thus induced cured his 
cold by the next day. Another common remedy for a cold was 
a decoction of colt's-foot. A cure for coughs and hoarseness was 
to bathe the feet in hot water, and then to rub some deer's 
grease to the soles of the feet in front of a good fire at bed-time. 
The following recipe for a cold is taken from Nether-Lochaber : 
" Take a pint say a tumblerful of sea water that has been heated 
to the boiling point, without having been allowed actually to boil. 
Sprinkle over it some pepper, rather more plentifully than you 
do in your soup ; drink this as hot as you can bear it as you 
step into bed at night." This is said to be even yet a popular 
cure in Lochaber. 

Fresh wounds were dressed with a salve made of golden 
rod, mistletoe, and fresh butter. A broken limb was first rubbed 
with the white of an egg mixed with barley meal, and tied up in 
splints for a day or two. An ointment composed of betony, St 
John's wort, and golden rod, all pounded together in butter or 
sheep's grease, was afterwards applied. Sometimes the fat of a 
sea bird was made into a pudding, and being placed in the 
stomach of the bird, was applied as a kind of poultice to fresh 
wounds. This was called " Giben of St Kilda." The plant 
called shepherd's purse was applied to cuts to arrest the flow of 
blood, but yarrow was considered the best remedy for that 
purpose. The latter plant was used also for headaches, the 
leaves being pushed up the nostrils until the blood sprung, from 
which very likely it took its Gaelic name of lus na fola, or the 
blood-weed. In the Island of Gigha nettles were used to stanch 
bleeding, and also the common fungi called puff-balls. Ribwort, 
wood mercury, herb Robert, and bloody cranesbill were all used 
for the same purpose, the Gaelic name of the last-mentioned 
plant, according to Cameron, being creachlach dearg, the red 
wound healer. 

The following amusing cures for the jaundice among the 
Lewis men are taken from Martin : " The first is by laying the 
patient on his face, and, pretending to look upon his back bones, 
they presently pour a pailful of cold water on his bare back ; and 
this proves successful. The second cure they perform by taking 
the tongs and making them red-hot in the fire ; then pulling off 



332 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

the clothes from the patient's back, he who holds the tongs gently 
touches the patient upwards on the vertebrae of the back, which 
makes him furiously run out of doors, still supposing the hot iron 
is on his back, till the pain be abated, which happens very 
speedily, and the patient recovers soon after." In Shetland the 
remedy for this disease was to mix powdered snails in the 
patient's drink. 

Diarrhoea and dysentery were treated in Lewis with a bever- 
age composed of what Martin calls " the kernel of the black 
molocca beans," ground to powder, and mixed with boiled milk. 
Moderate doses of strong whisky and juniper berries were also 
taken for these ailments. In Harris powdered cuttle-fish bone 
was given to the patient in boiled milk ; and in Uist the great 
cures were to eat seal, and drink plenty whisky in which a hectic 
stone had been quenched. Another remedy for diarrhoea was red 
coral and a roasted yolk of egg. 

In cases of fever, whey, in which violets had been boiled, 
was given as a cooling drink. Distilled raspberry and whortle- 
berry juice were used for the same purpose. For what Martin 
calls " spotted fever," probably measles, they drank freely of 
brandy ; and for scarlet fever tlje same remedy was used in 
smaller quantities. In the case of infants, the nurse drank the 
brandy, to qualify the milk ; and, it is feared, the nurses of those 
days frequently discovered symptoms of scarlet fever in the 
infants under their care. 

Serpent bites were cured in a variety of ways. The people 
followed the old proverb " Take a hair of the dog that bit you ;" 
for Martin states that in Skye the principal cures for serpent bites 
were to wash the wound in water in which the forked tongue of 
the serpent had been steeped, and to apply the head of the reptile 
which gave the wound. Another was to place the hind part of 
a living cock to the bite, which was thought to draw out the 
venom. New cheese, promptly applied, was found effectual ; as 
were also juniper berries, ground ivy, and decoctions of oak bark, 
acorns, and ash leaves. 

In Harris the remedy for gravel was an infusion of wild 
garlic. In Skye it was cured by taking broth made of dulse, or 
ometimes of the large, pale whelk, pounded in its shell, boiled 
and strained. Another remedy was water gruel without salt. 



OLD HIGHLAND REMEDIES. 333 

For sleeplessness after fever the patient washed his feet, 
knees, and ancles in a warm infusion of chickweed, and on going 
to bed a poultice of the same plant was applied warm to his neck 
and between his shoulders. A poultice of chopped nettle-tops 
and raw white of eggs applied to the forehead and temples at 
bed-time was also used to induce sleep. A kind of heath called 
Erica baccifera, boiled in water, and applied to the crown of the 
head and temples, and the green sea plant, called in Gaelic lin- 
nearach, were remedies for sleeplessness, and an infusion of thyme 
was a certain preventive against nightmare and horrible dreams. 

To raise a blister the Highlanders bruised spearwort, and 
applied it in a limpet shell to the spot where the blister was 
required. This very soon took effect, and when the blister burst 
the wound was healed with linnearach. Another blister they used 
was groundsel, applied much in the same way. 

For consumption a common remedy was the broth of a 
lamb in which the plants lovage and Alexanders were boiled ; 
another being milk or water in which a red-hot hectic stone had 
been cooled, to which they sometimes added yarrow. In Skye 
they used an ale composed of hart's-tongue and maiden-hair 
ferns boiled in unfermented beer, and sometimes also brochan 
without salt. Lungwort was a very common cure. In Black's 
Folk- Medicine, it is stated that " In the county of Moray 
the people were formerly in the habit of paring the nails of the 
fingers and toes of persons suffering from hectic and consumptive 
diseases. The parings were put in a rag cut from the patient's 
clothes, and waved three times round his head, with the cry 
Deas soil [? Deas-iuil.~\ After this the rag was buried in some un- 
known place." 

The cure for fluxes in Uist was dried seal's liver, pulverised, 
and taken with milk or whisky. In Skye a syrup extracted from 
blackberries was used, and a decoction of plantain in which hectic 
stone had been quenched. 

For sciatica the Uist men bound a girdle of sealskin round 
the hips, to which was also applied the fat of a sea-bird which 
Martin calls a " bonnivochil." 

Megrim and headache were cured by applying the sea-plant 
linnearach to the side of the head affected, and also by a 
plaster of cold dulse. 



334 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Colic was relieved by taking broth made of dulse, and for 
stitches the Skye-men, if bleeding was ineffectual, applied an 
ointment composed of camomile, or brandy and fresh butter, or 
a poultice of raw scurvy-grass chopped fine. It was cured in 
Jura by a vapour-bath formed of the fumes of ladywrack and 
redfog boiled in water, the patient sitting upon the vessel which 
contained the herbs. 

To expel worms the Highlanders took dried bruised dulse, 
or an infusion of tansy in whey or brandy, taken fasting. Bog- 
myrtle tea and the powdered roots of shield ferns in water were 
also used with success. Worms were expelled from the hands 
by washing them in salt water in which the ashes of burnt sea- 
weed were mixed. 

Regarding ringworm, N ether -Lochaber informs us that, 
" There is a very wide-spread belief over the West Highlands and 
in the Hebrides that ringworm can be readily cured by rubbing 
it over and around once or twice with a gold ring a woman's 
marriage ring, if it can be had, being always preferred." In Folk- 
Medicine, we are told that " in Shetland a person affected with 
ringworm takes, on three successive mornings, ashes between the 
forefinger and thumb, before taking food, and, while holding them 

to the part affected, says 



' Ringworm, ringworm red ! 
Never may'st thou spread or speed 
But aye grow less and less 
And die away among the ase ' (ashes.) " 

H. R. M. 

(To be continued.) 



THE CHIEF OF GRANT AND THE SEAFIELD ESTATES. Intense 
feeling has been roused among the Grants in consequence of the late Earl of Seafield 
having left all the family estates unconditionally to his mother, the Countess Dowager. 
The facts, stated simply, are as follows : The late Earl, by will, left the whole 
estates absolutely to his mother, without making any provision whatever for the 
head of the House of Grant and the holder of the title. So far, then, as the late 
Earl could, the estates were wholly alienated by him from his successor as Chief of 
Grant and Earl of Seafield. His mother has, however, come to the rescue, and, 
so far, saved the honour of the Clan by the execution of a deed in terms of which 
the estates will, at her death, revert to the Chief and Earl. In the meantime, he is 
to receive ^4000 a-year for his maintenance. This allowance is equal, as near as 
possible, to ,5 per cent, per annum on the gross rental of the family estates, which 
amounts to about ^80,000 ! We fear this will scarcely be considered consistent with 
the general idea hitherto entertained of what is necessary for upholding an ancient 
Highland aristocracy. 



335 



TUIREADH AIR SON PRIONNSA DONNACHADH * 
DIUC ALBANI. 

LE MAIRI NIC-EALAIR. 



O buailidh mi 'n tdud 6rbhuidh, 

Fann bhuailidh mi 'n tud, 

'S mi 'sileadh nan d6ur, 

'O n' chuala' mi 'n sgul br6nach. 

An t-ailleagan ciuin, 
Am fiuran deas ur, 
'Bha finealt'o thus 6ige, 

'Bhi paisgt' ann an lion, 

Gun aithne gun chli', 

Ann an ciste na 'n tri bdrdan. 

'Bhi an glais aig an dug, 

An t-aintighearn' nach g&ll, 

'S a chleachd feadh gach r6 foirneart. 

O buailidh mi 'n t6ud 6rbhuidh, 
Fann bhuailidh mi 'n tdud, 
'S bean 6g a chuil r&dh, 
A' sileadh nan deur br6nach. 

'S beag ioghna' an saogh'l, 

An diugh dhi bhi faoin, 

'S nach faic i a gaol b6idheach. 

Nach faic gu la' bhrkth, 
Aghaidh mhin-mhaiseach mhkld, 
'S nach cluinn i a dhkn ce61mhor. 

A beadragan maoth, 

Tha briodal ri 'taobh, 

'S cha toir athair a gaoil p6g dhi. 

O buailidh mi 'n t&id 6rbhuidh, 
Fann bhuailidh mi 'n t6ud, 
'S an duthaich gu l^ir, 
A' sileadh nan d^ur br6nach. 

Do mhathair tha caoidh, 

O ! Bhanrigh ar gaoil, 

'S luath sheargadh do chaoin r6s-geal. 

'Se bu 'dealradh na gnuis, 

Aig c&le do ruin, 

Rinn sona an tiis d'oig' thu. 

Duncan was the Highland name of the Prince. 



336 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

'An gliocas 's an ciall, 
'An ceanaltas gniomh, 
'An tuigse 's am fior eolas. 

O buailidh mi 'n tfcud 6rbhuidh, 

O buailidh mi 'n te"ud, 

Tha bolus 's an sp^ur, 

Ged tha sinne air c6um ce6dhar. 

'S a mhoch-thrath tha ghrian, 

A lasadh nan sliabh, 

Le h-6r-ghathan fial g!6rmhor. 

'S i 'g innse 'gach Ik 

Mu mhaduinn an aigh 

'N oidhche a bhais f h&gradh. 

Bi' am bas ann an daors' 

Ceangailt' teann aig na maoir, 

'S gheibh thu 'Bhanrigh do chaoin rds-geal, 

Is buailidh sibh t&ud 5rbhuidh, 
Ard bhuailidh sibh t&ud, 
Gu suthainn le ch^il, 
Aighearach, reidh, ce61mhor. 



DUGALD BUCHANAN'S SPIRITUAL SONGS, TRANSLATED INTO 
ENGLISH VERSE. By L. MACBEAN. Edinburgh: Maclachlan and 
Stewart. 1884. 

IT were a work of the veriest supererogation to commend to Highlanders the spiritual 
poetry of Dugald Buchanan. There is no Highland poet so popular; and deservedly 
so. His sacred songs have been the constant companion of, and have afforded 
spiritual refreshment to, Highlanders in every part of the world from his own time to 
the present day. Various attempts have been made to set forth the poems in an 
English garb, both in prose and in rhyme. Some of these have been very successful, 
but the translation now before us by Mr L. Macbean is vastly superior to them all. 
It is both free and faithful ; and, notwithstanding the double difficulty of reproducing 
in another tongue the forms of thought and expression peculiar to a very different 
language, and of translating these into the identical rhythm and measure of the 
originals, Mr Macbean has sacrificed little, if any, of the richness of the author's 
imagery or the power of his thought and language. It may be said of Dugald 
Buchanan's poetry that, though it may be some times quaint and familiar, reminding 
one somewhat of George Herbert's oddities of rhyme and phrase, it never descends to 
commonplace; and in "The Day of Judgment" there are verses of quite Miltonic 
power. Indeed, there is a remarkable coincidence of language observable between 
Buchanan and not a few of his poetic predecessors and successors. Mr Macbean in 
his notes indicates a few of these, but a great many more might be added. A number 
of stanzas from Pollock's "Course of Time" might be compared with the words in 
which Buchanan, a quarter of a century earlier, describes the same event in his " Day 
of Judgment." "The Skull," in which the poet moralises and conjectures as to the 
life and character of the former tenant of the skull which he lifted from the heap of 
earth at the newly dug grave, might have received its suggestion from Hamlet's con- 
templations on a similar subject; and though it is true that Buchanan was quite familiar 
with the works of the great dramatist, such promptings were not at all required in the 
case of one of such fertility of imagination and artistic power as the schoolmaster of 
Rannoch. As a specimen of his manner, and an instance of the admirable character 



CROFTER ELOQUENCE IN SKYE. 337 

of the translation, we subjoin a few stanzas. Referring to the skull which he held 
in his hand, Buchanan says : 

" Or a lord of the land 

Do I hold in my hand, 
Whose acres were fertile and wide, 
Who was generous and good, 
And clothing and food 
To the naked and needy supplied. 

' ' Or wert thou wont to flay 

Those under thy sway, 
Sore grinding their faces with rent, 

And pressing them sore, 

Arresting their store, 
Though their need might have made thee relent ? 

" Poor men would not dare 

With their heads bald and bare, 
Pinched, pallid, and palsied with years, 

In thy presence to stand 

But with bonnet in hand, 
Though the frost wind were piercing their ears. 

" But now without fear 

Thy slave may come near, 
Nor honour nor power thou hast. 

O blest be the tomb, 

That conqueror by whom 
Thy sway has been broken at last !" 

For the work of the translator we have nothing but praise. He has placed his 
countrymen under deep obligation to him, inasmuch as he has done justice to the 
work of one of their best and most cherished bards. He has also afforded those who 
could not understand Buchanan in the original Gaelic an opportunity of enjoying the 
works of one whom Highlanders, very deservedly, delight to honour. The book is 
very neatly got up, and will be highly prized. 



CROFTER ELOQUENCE IN THE ISLE OF SKYE. 

A LARGELY attended meeting of the Stenscholl branch of the H. L. L. R. Association was 
held on the 6th of April, at Dun Raesburgh. Dun Raesburgh is a township in possession 
of Alexander Macleod, tacksman of Scudiburgh, described as holding " every civil 
office that can be imagined, from parish innkeeper and miller on the one hand, to 
sanitary inspector and boarder of parish lunatics on the other, and who, in addition to 
all that, is a land shark of no small voracity. " The following is a translation sent us 
of the speeches made: 

Hugh Matheson, Stenscholl, after dealing at length with the injustice by which 
they had been not only impoverished, but actually enslaved, pointed out the 
necessity of united and earnest perseverance in agitating for the reforms that they 
want, so that they may either receive justice or fall together. He spoke of the en- 
couragement and sympathy they had so far received from all quarters. He insisted 
that landlord was a false title, there being no absolute lord of the land but the One 
Almighty Creator who made the land, and gave it to his own creatures to live on 
during their pilgrimage here. He quoted from Scripture to show the land was meant 
by the Creator to belong to the people, and he wondered how landlords would dare, 
like so many gods, to say that the land was theirs, and that they would dispose of it 
according to their pleasure. The fish that was yesterday miles away from land was 
claimed by the landlord the moment it neared the shore, and so also were the birds of 



338 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

the air as soon as they flew over his land. The law made it so, because landlords 
were themselves the law makers, and it was a wonder that the poor man was allowed 
to breathe the air of heaven and drink from the mountain stream, without having the 
factors and the whole of the country police pursuing him as a thief. He believed they 
would soon have the landlords advocating wholesale emigration, but if the French or 
Russians should invade the county would the landlords shake themselves like so many 
Samsons against the Philistines, and put the enemy to rout with an army of factors, 
ground-officers, tacksmen, and Cheviot rams. Even with all those they would not 
be able to stand up for Queen and country as the men of Skye did seventy and eighty 
years ago. The crofters were not met to plot against either life or property, but to 
consider what should be done to secure redress of their grievances, and he hoped our 
gracious Queen and her councillors would seriously consider' the matter, and put an 
end for ever to the oppression and cruelty with which her loyal subjects were being 
treated in Skye a treatment which was a disgrace to the civilisation of the nineteenth 
century. Think of a poor widow gathering shell-fish on the sea-shore for her children's 
breakfast, and chased away by the landlord's orders, on the ground that she was tres- 
passing. Think, too, of that poor delicate woman whose husband was far away earn- 
ing the rent, while she was compelled to carry the peats on her back three-quarters of 
a mile through sleet and snow, because the tacksman wanted the small bit of pasture 
they used to rent. Here, too, was a poor old man in ragged trousers deprived 
of his croft because he could not now pay double the rent he paid a few years ago. 
He had a large family, but they had all been obliged to leave ; one of them was 
wounded in the battle of the Alma, and some of them were still away fighting for 
their country, while the poor old man and his wife had no one to cheer their last days. 
He (the speaker), since he could no longer pay his full rent, saw no prospect before 
him but the Sheriff Court and eviction, unless the Government would speedily legis- 
late on behalf of the oppressed crofters. He denounced the conduct of those crofters 
who were too chicken-hearted to join the agitation, and said they might frequently be 
seen about the kitchens of their oppressors selling their birthright for a mess of pot- 
tage. He eulogised the spirit of kindness and impartiality with which the Royal 
Commission received their evidence last year, and hoped that some good would soon 
come out of it. He condemned the action of landlords in Parliament, in making 
special laws to suit their own selfish ends, and expressed the hope that the people 
would soon be able to send their own representatives into Parliament. 

Murdo Maclean, Lealt, said that many things had been said since these meetings 
began, which had thrown light on the causes of the poverty now existing on various 
estates in the Highlands, and that was one good thing that the meetings had already 
done. He pointed out how, when the old chiefs lost the land, the new landlords 
made it their aim to screw as much money out of the land as they possibly could, and 
in this they were often assisted by traitors who were bribed from among the people 
themselves. By-and-bye the landlords came to the conclusion that they could get 
quite as much rent at less trouble by converting the land into large sheep farms, and 
so the evictions began, and at the same time the rents of the crofters, who were al- 
lowed to remain, were raised to an extraordinary extent, while at the same time the 
crofts were reduced, and the result was now so much misery, that if the Queen would 
only visit them, and see their women doing the work of horses, while the men were 
away earning the rent, he felt sure that out of the nobleness and grea.tness of her 
heart she would put a speedy stop to a system that has led to such cruel treatment of 
her loyal subjects. 

Norman Stewart, Valtos, in the course of a long speech, contrasted the treat- 



CROFTER ELOQUENCE IN SKYE. 339 

ment of the crofters by strangers who came among them with that by the native tacks- 
men. He knew an Englishman who at one time had taken the farm of Scorybreck. 
When this gentleman came to see the farm, he saw some of his shepherds gathering 
a number of sheep into a fold. Upon being informed by his shepherds that they were 
the sheep of the crofters who were about to be evicted from the farm which he had 
taken, the generous Englishman said, ' ' Let the sheep out again to the grazing. I 
shall have nothing to do with this place after Whitsunday. My bargain with the 
landlord was for land already under sheep, and not for land from which poor people 
were to be evicted. I shall never be the means of depriving a poor man of his 
home." The good Englishman was as good as his word. ' He gave up' the farm at 
once, and the crofters were left undisturbed. How many of our Scotch tacksmen 
would have acted in that generous way ? Not one. A tacksman induced a cottar to 
take a piece of land that had been fallow for years, on the border of his farm. The 
cottar took the croft, drained it, and so greatly improved it that in a few years it was 
the best croft in the neighbourhood, whereupon the tacksman stepped in and evicted 
_ the crofter without giving him a single penny of compensation. In striking contrast 
to the conduct of those land sharks, the speaker thought they should not forget to 
mention Mr Johnston, of Montrose, lessee of the salmon fishing. Not only does Mr 
Johnston pay his men liberally, but provides for them in their old age ; takes an 
interest in the widows and orphans of his deceased servants, and has lately filled the 
hearts of the children with gladness by providing substantial New-Year treats to them 
in their schools. But what, continued the speaker, do our proprietors and factors do 
to the widow and her orphans. When she fails in her rent she is forced to go and 
take shelter by the dyke side. It would be. better for her to share the fate of the 
Brahmin widow and be sacrificed on the funeral pile. The proprietor has reduced the 
limits of our pasture land, and more than doubled our rents, and we are reduced to 
such a state of poverty that we can't get credit for a single boll of meal, unless one of 
our cows is put in pledge for it. Before we have barely finished our tillage we must 
leave the country in quest of work to earn money to pay the mealdealer, otherwise 
our miserable effects are sold, and we are ruined. Our wives in our absence have to 
do the work of horses, attending to the crop, the cattle, and the peats, until we come 
back to gather in the harvest, and as soon as that is done we must be off to earn 
money to pay the rent. Our houses are so wretched that when it rains with a north 
wind we have to shift our beds to the south side, and when it rains from the south 
we have to shift our beds back again to the north side, so leaky are our roofs. If we 
dare take a burden of heather or rashes for thatch we are prosecuted for theft and im- 
prisoned. I have been in jail myself for a week for taking one burden. We have 
suffered too long and too patiently, but a cloud of relief, at first no bigger than a man's 
hand, has appeared, and is rapidly growing larger. Let us make our grievances 
loudly and widely known. We know that all good men in England and Scotland, 
so far as they know our circumstances, are on our side, but we must agitate more 
loudly and more unitedly still, so that our cause may become still more widely known, 
and by the help of God, our cause will yet triumph, and we shall receive justice. 

Ronald Maclean, Elleshadder, said that, being from home lately, he met a gentle- 
man who ridiculed this movement and said no good would come of it. I replied 
continued the speaker -that good came of a similar movement in another part of the 
kingdom. -You mean Ireland, he said, the Irish are braver and pluckier than you. 
I said that Skyemen were not prepared to take part in any such horrible deeds as the 
Irish have been committing. The people of Skye are as loyal to their Queen and 
country as ever their forefathers were, and on that account we think that we are en- 



340 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

titled to justice ; and put a Skyeman on a footing of equality with an Irishman in one 
of the colonies for instance, and the Skyeman will hold his own against the best man 
that ever came out of Ireland. When, however, a man sees the hunger-pinched faces 
of his wife and ragged children, and knows that it is all owing to the cursed land 
laws, he is very apt to do things which, under more favourable circumstances, he 
could even be ashamed to think of ; but I pray God, however, that our land may be 
saved from the barbarous outrages which have been committed in another part of the 
kingdom. But, fellow crofters, we must do something. Our bondage has been too 
long and too heavy, and we must remain inactive no longer. I would propose in the 
first place that no labour by crofter or cottar be given to the tacksmen. If that 
system were carried out the tacksmen would soon find themselves in a rather awkward 
fix. The tacksmen are the means by which the crofters are oppressed, by which they 
are evicted, and by which the voracious pockets of the greedy landlords are being 
filled, and therefore we must do all in our power to throw difficulties in the path of 
the tacksmen. In the second place, I would propose that the land be revalued, 
and that we pay no rent above this valuation. The proprietors have repeatedly 
valued and revalued our holdings, and raised our rents, and now it is our turn to do 
something. The last valuation was made by an entire stranger. This man knew 
nothing of our circumstances, and so our rents were raised from 50 to 100 per cent. 
I would now propose that we turn the tables on our oppressors, and revalue our land, 
and as we do not want to do anything unreasonable, let us take the tacksman's farm 
as our standard, and let us pay not a penny of rent above his valuation. I say let us 
pay not a penny of rent above that valuation until the Government settles the ques- 
tion. We have faith in the Government, and we hope they will do what is right. 
Anyhow, let us never rest or stop the agitation until we have received justice. 

Charles Macarthur, Elleshadder, said he had been moved from his croft in Kil- 
muir to make room for sheep, to where he is now, on the top of the Kelt Rock. He 
remembered the clearing of fourteen townships on that estate, and so much was 
the competition by the tacksmen for those townships that he could compare them 
to nothing but two solan geese, the one trying to get possession of the fish which 
the other had caught. Before the man who cleared the townships got a lease, he was 
deprived of his farm by another tacksman. 

Murdo Nicolson, Brogaig, said when I went to pay my rent this year I was short 
by ^3. I told the factor I had no more to give him, and that I had to go all the way 
to Shetland in a boat to earn what I had ; but that I would put my cow in pledge for 
the ^3, if he would let me. The tacksman of Duntulm, who was present, asked me if 
I belonged to the Land League. I said I did not, but that I belonged to the High- 
land Land Law Reform Association. He then told me that he would give me 3 
and more, if I would give up my connection with that Association. I told him I 
would not give up my connection with this Association until we got our grievances 
redressed, even if I had to sell my very clothes. The factor then said I seemed to be 
very well dressed ; but, if I must tell the truth, I had to tell him that I borrowed most 
of the clothes I had on to go and see him. My wife would make cloth as well as any 
woman if she had wool, but Major Fraser took our sheep pasture from us, and now we 
cannot get any wool. Even if my wife could make a suit of clothes out of heather, 
she could not get it except by stealing it. 

Alexander Nicolson, Brogaig, said the cottars had joined the crofters in this agita- 
tion, and would support them with their means to the utmost of their power. He 
built a cottage and brought up a family there, although he never got a day's labour 
nearer than Buckie on the East Coast. Even if his children could live on grass they 
would not be allowed to eat it. The farmer who rented the land would not allow 
them to sit on the grass, to say nothing of eating it. The crofters were badly off, but 
the cottars were worse. They were next to the paupers, and he thought men had a 
better right to the land than sheep. He urged upon the crofters not to accept any 
settlement of the land question that would not better the condition of the cottars. 

All the speeches were enthusiastically cheered throughout, while there were in- 
terruptions of a very uncomplimentary nature against the lairds, factors, and tacks- 
men. This is a fair specimen of what is going on in almost every township in the 
West, though scarcely any notice is taken of it by the press, and the general public 
are left in total ignorance. 



THE 

CELTIC MAGAZINE. 



CONDUCTED BY 



ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A., Scot. 



No. CIV. JUNE 1884. VOL. IX. 



THE HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 
By the EDITOR. 

XVII. 

XVIII. JOHN CAMERON, in 1706, made over the estates to his 
eldest son Donald. They had previously, in 1696, been assigned 
to himself by his father, Sir Ewen. We had thus Sir Ewen and 
his son John both living, while the actual proprietor of the estate 
was Donald XlXth Chief of the Clan, so prominently known 
in connection with the Rising of 1745, and of whom presently. 
It will be remembered that John commanded the clan after 
Killiecrankie, when his father, Sir Ewen, returned to Lochaber. 
For this act a warrant was issued, in 1706, for his apprehension, 
charging him with treason ; but it does not appear to have been 
executed, though, no doubt, it was in consequence of this warrant 
that he, in the same year, transferred the estates to his eldest son. 
He had been involved in all the schemes for the restoration 
of the Stuart dynasty, but his forte seems to have lain more in 
the civil than the military groove. He took part, as we have 
seen, in the Rising of 1715. For this he was attainted and for- 
feited, after which he left Scotland, and spent the remainder of 
his life in France ; while his son, Donald, took his place at the 

2 A 



342 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

head of the clan in Lochaber. His personal attendant, Duncan 
Cameron, was one of those who accompanied Prince Charles to 
the Highlands in 1745, to pilot his ship and party to a suitable 
place of embarkation, which he was well fitted to do, from his 
accurate knowledge of the West Coast of Scotland. Duncan 
wrote an account of the voyage, which has been preserved by 
Bishop Forbes, and printed by Chambers in the Jacobite Me- 
moirs. The military genius of the family seems to have gone 
somewhat under a cloud in the person of John, but only to shine 
more brilliantly in that of his immediate successor, and others of 
his descendants. It is even said that his conduct in 1715 gave 
but little satisfaction to his father or his clan, and that the latter 
expressed unwillingness again to serve under him. It would, 
however, in the nature of things, be difficult to satisfy those who 
had served under such a successful and brilliant leader as Sir 
Ewen, and this will probably account for any such feeling that 
may have existed. He married Isabel, daughter of Alexander, 
sixth, and sister of Sir Duncan Campbell, seventh of Lochnell, 
with issue 

1. Donald, his heir and successor. 

2. John of Fassifern, who married Jean, daughter of John 
Campbell of Achallader, with issue four sons and seven daughters, 
The eldest son became distinguished as Colonel John Cameron, 
of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, who fell so gloriously at Quatre 
Bras, and of whom, at length, under " The Camerons of Fassifern." 

3. Alexander, who became a priest, and suffered for his sym- 
pathies with the Rising of 1745. He was apprehended in Strath- 
glass, and sent to the hulks on the Thames, where he died shortly 
after, on board a ship, on her way to Hanover, carrying a batch 
of Jacobite prisoners. Among them was an old and intimate friend 
of Alexander Cameron Father John Farquharson, in whose 
arms he died. He had been removed from his own wretched 
quarters by order of the Captain of the ship, through the influence 
of his old companion, in whose arms he breathed his last* 

4. Dr Archibald, executed at Tyburn in 1753, for his share 
in the Rising of 1745, at the age of 46 years, and of whom, 
with his family and descendants, hereafter. 

* This incident, and the subsequent movements of Father Farquharson, are fully 
described by Mr Colin Chisholm, Vol. VII., pp. 144-145 of the Celtic Magazine. 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 343 

5. Evan, who died a planter in Jamaica.* 

6. Miss Peggy. 

Two other sons of Lochiel died young. 

He died in exile at Newport, in Flanders, m 1747 or early 
in 1748, at a very advanced age, when he was succeeded as Chief 
of the Clan by his eldest son. 

XIX. DONALD CAMERON, of 1745 celebrity, known as 
" The Gentle Lochiel." Though advanced into middle life, he 
was called " Young " Lochiel, his father being still alive. For 
several years before the Rising, Donald was in correspond- 
ence with the Chevalier de St George. One of the letters re- 
ceived by him from James is given in the Appendix to Home's 
"History of the Rebellion," dated the nth of April 1727, in 
which, addressing him as " Mr Johnstone, junior," the Chevalier 
writes : 

I am glad of this occasion to let you know how well pleased I am to hear of 
the care you take to follow your father's and uncle's example in their loyalty to me ; 
and I doubt not of your endeavours to maintain the true spirit in the clan. Allan is 
now with me, and I am always glad to have some of my brave Highlanders about me, 
whom I value as they deserve. You will deliver the enclosed to its address, and 
doubt not of my particular regard for you, which, I am persuaded, you will always 
deserve. (Signed) .JAMES R. 

On the 3rd of October, 1729, Allan Cameron, Donald's 
uncle, referred to in the Chevalier's letter just quoted, writes to 
young Lochiel, from Albano, as follows : 

Dear Nephew, Yours, of September nth, came to my hand in due time, 
which I took upon me to shew His Majesty, who not only was pleased to say that 
you wrote with a great deal of zeal and good sense, but was so gracious and good as 
to write you a letter with his own hand, herewith sent you, wherein he gives full and 
ample powers to treat with such of his friends in Scotland, as you think are safe to be 
trusted in what concerns his affairs, until an opportunity offer for executing any reason- 
able project towards a happy restoration, which they cannot expect to know until 
matters be entirely ripe for execution, and of which they will be acquainted directly 

* " It appears that Sir Ewen of Lochiel obtained or purchased property in the 
West Indies. How it was managed by him, or by his son, we know not ; but we see 
from other documents that, in singular contrast to the contempt for commerce attri- 
buted to the Highland gentry of the day, two of his grandsons, Evan and Alexander, 
went to the West Indies to manage this property. Evan took with him in 1734 a 
cargo of people from Maryburgh, as Fort-William was then called, to carry to the West 
Indies, and it was believed in the country that he had made riches in Jamaica." Z?r 
Clerk^s Life of Colonel John Cameron of Fassiefern, p. 104. See also Editor's Preface 
to the Memoirs of Sir E-juen Cameron of Lochiel, p. 29. 



344 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

from himself; and, therefore, whatever they have to say at any time, either by you, 
by the power given you by the King's letter, or by any other person, the account is to 
be sent to His Majesty directly, and not to any second hand, as the King has wrote 
to you in his letter. Dear Nephew, now that His Majesty has honoured you with 
such a commission, and gracious letter, concerning himself and family, and that he 
has conceived so good an opinion of your good sense and prudence, I hope this your 
first appearance, by the King's authority, will answer the trust he has been pleased to 
put in your loyalty, zeal, and good conduct, of which I have no reason to fear or 
doubt, considering the step you have already made. By executing this commission 
with prudence and caution, depend on it you have an opportunity of serving the 
King to good purpose, which in time will redound to the prosperity of your friends 
and family. I need say no more on this head, since you will see by the King's letter 
fully the occasion you have of serving His Majesty, your country, and yourself. But 
as I am afraid you will have difficulty to read it, his hand not been easy to those who 
are not well acquainted with it ; the substance of it is, that he would not let you go 
without shewing you how sensible he is of your good zeal and affection to his interest 
and service ; that Scotland, in general, when it is in his power (hoping that happy 
time will one day come) shall reap the fruits of the constant loyalty of his friends 
there ; that you represent to them to keep themselves in readiness, not knowing how 
soon there may be occasion for their service ; but that they take special care not to 
give a handle to the present Government to ruin them, by exposing themselves to 
their fury by any unreasonable or imprudent action, for that they shall have His 
Majesty's orders directly, when it is proper ; and recommends entire union among 
yourselves in general ; and towards the end of the letter, he is pleased to make your- 
self and family particular promises of his favour, when it pleases God he is restored; 
and while he is abroad all that's in his power. I hope this hint of the meaning of the 
letter will enable you, by taking some pains, to read it through ; it being wrote in the 
King's own hand, there was no occasion for signing it. 

I think it proper you should write to the King, by the first post after you re- 
ceive his letter. I need not advise you what to say in answer to such a gracious 
letter from your King, only let it not be very long ; declare your duty and readiness 
to execute his Majesty's commands on all occasions, and of your sense of the honour 
he has been pleased to do you, in giving you such a commission. I am not to choose 
words for you, because I am sure you can express yourself in a dutiful and discreet 
manner without any help. You are to write, sir, on a large margin, and to end, your 
most faithful and obedient subject and servant, and to address it, To the King, and no 
more ; which enclose to me sealed. I pray send me the copy of it on a paper en- 
closed, with any other thing that you do not think fit or needful the King should see 
in your letter to me ; because I will shew your letter in answer to this, wherein you 
may say that you will be mindful of all I wrote to you, and what else you think fit. 

This letter is so long, that I must take the occasion of the next post to write 
you concerning my own family ; but the King, as well as Mr Hay, bid me assure you, 
that your father should never be in any more straits, as long as he, the King, lived ; 
and that he would take care from time to time to remit him; so that I hope you may 
be pretty easy as to that point. 

I must tell you, that what you touched on in your letter to me of the I4th 
August concerning those you saw there live so well, beyond what they could have 
done at home, they must have been provided for some other way than out of the 
King's pocket ; and, depend upon it, some others have thought themselves obliged to 
supply them. 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 345 

You are to assure yourself and others, that the King has determined to make 
Scotland happy, and the clans in particular, when it pleases God to restore him; this 
is consistent with my certain knowledge. You are only to touch upon this irf a dis- 
creet way, and to a very few discreet persons ; but all these matters I leave to your 
own good sense and prudence, for may be sure there are people who will give account 
of your behaviour after you return home ; but I hope none will be able to do it to 
your disadvantage ; keep always to the truth in what you inform the King, and that 
will stand; though even on the truth itself, you are to put the handsomest gloss you 
can on some occasions. 

You are to keep in good terms with Glengarry, and all other neighbours, and 
let by-gones be by-gones, as long as they continue firm to the King's interest ; let no 
private animosity take place, but see to gain them- with courtesy and good manage- 
ment, which I hope will give you an opportunity to make a figure amongst them, not 
but you are to tell the truth, if any of them fail in their duty to the King or country. 

As to Lovat, pray, be always on your guard, but not so as to lose him ; on the 
contrary, you may say that the King trusts a great deal to the resolution he has taken 
to serve him ; and expects he will continue in that resolution. But, dear Nephew, 
you know very well that he must give true and real proof of his sincerity, by perform- 
ance, before he can be entirely reckoned on, after the part he has acted. This I say 
to yourself, and therefore you must deal with him very dexterously ; and I must 
leave it to your own judgment what lengths to go with him, since you know he has 
always been a man whose chief view was his own interest. It is true he wishes our 
family well; and I doubt not he would wish the King restored, which is his interest, 
if he has the grace to have a hand in it, after what he has done. So, upon the whole, 
I know not what advice to give you, as to letting him know that the King wrote you 
such a letter as you have ; but, in general, you are to make the best of him you can, 
but still be on your guard; for it is not good to put too much in his power before the 
time of executing a good design. The King knows very well how useful he can he if 
sincere, which I have represented as fully as was necessary. 

This letter is of such bulk, that I have enclosed the King's letter under cover 
with another letter addressed for your father, as I will not take leave of you till next 
post. I add only that I am entirely yours, A. CAMERON. 

The letter enclosed from the Chevalier has not been pre- 
served, but we have the substance of it in Allan's letter to 
his nephew. The reference to Lovat shows that his Lord- 
ship's character had been correctly estimated long before 1745, 
and that it was placed at its proper value by the friends of 
the Stuart dynasty. It is to be regretted that we do not know 
the exact nature of the promises made by Charles and his father 
to Lochiel, for himself and for his family. We are told in the 
Jacobite Memoirs that Donald, before agreeing to " come out," took 
full security from the Prince for the value of his estates, and 
that it was "to fulfil this engagement that Charles, after the 
unfortunate conclusion of the enterprise," obtained a French 
regiment for him. Chambers, who, in a foot-note, quotes this 



346 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE 

from Bishop Forbes, says, regarding it, "that it is scarcely 
necessary to remark, that the presence of generous feelings does 
not necessarily forbid that some attention should be paid to the 
dictates of prudence and caution. Lochiel might feel that he 
had a right to peril his life and connexion with his country, but 
not the fortune on which the comfort of others besides himself 
depended, especially in an enterprise of which he had a bad 
opinion, and which he only acceded to from a romantic defer- 
ence to the. wishes of another person." In this view the majority 
of people will agree. 

The Jacobites, not only in the Highlands but in the Low- 
lands, were acquainted with the contents of the letters which 
passed between the Chevalier, Prince Charles, and young 
Lochiel. In 1740 he was one of the seven Highland chiefs who 
signed articles of association for the restoration of the Stuart 
line, engaging to take up arms, for that purpose, provided suffi- 
cient assistance was sent from France. These articles were 
taken to the Chevalier at Rome by Drummond of Balhaldy. 

A letter is given among the Stuart papers from Lochiel, 
under the signature of " Dan," dated the 22nd of February 1745, 
addressed to the Chevalier de St George, in which he refers to a 
recent letter forwarded by him. He assures His Royal High- 
ness of his steady adherence to whatever may conduce to the 
interest of his family, and urges that, as "the season is now 
fast advancing," and that, as they had as yet no return from 
their friends in England, " how far it is necessary that we be in- 
formed of what is expected from the French, and in how soon, 
that we may have it in our power to settle matters so as will 
enable us to make that assistance to your Royal Highness our 
duty and inclination direct." Very soon after this Prince Charles 
Edward embarked for the Highlands of Scotland, and shortly 
after his arrival at Borrodale, he sent messengers to several of 
the most influential chiefs, and, of course, among the rest, to his 
trusted friend Lochiel, who, when told that the Prince had 
landed without troops, arms, or ammunition, resolved to take no 
part in what seemed so perfectly hopeless an enterprise. At the 
same time he determined to visit His Royal Highness in person, 
first out of courtesy, but particularly with the view to induce 
him, if possible, to wait for the promised assistance from France, 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 347 

failing which to give up his intention, and return as quietly as he 
could. Home informs us that Lochiel left Lochaber on this 
visit quite determined not to take up arms, and that on his 
way to Borrodale, he called at the house of his brother, John 
Cameron of Fassifern, who, surprised to see. him at such an 
unusual hour, asked what had brought him there so early in 
the morning. When Lochiel explained the object of his 
journey, Fassifern asked, " What troops had the Prince brought 
with him? What money? What arms?" Lochiel answered 
that he believed he had brought with him neither troops, 
money, nor arms ; and, therefore, he was resolved not to 
be concerned in the affair, and would do his utmost to prevent 
Charles from making such a rash attempt. Fassifern approved 
of his brother's sentiments, and applauded his resolution ; advis- 
ing him, at the same time, not to go any further on the way to 
Borrodale, but to come into the house, and impart his mind to the 
Prince by letter. " No," said Lochiel, " I ought at least to wait 
upon him, and give my reasons in person for declining to join 
him, which admit of no reply." " Brother," said Fassifern, " I 
know you better than you know yourself. If this Prince once 
sets his eyes upon you, he will make you do whatever he pleases." 
This conversation, Home informs us, was repeated to him in 
1781 by Fassifern himself. 

No sooner had Lochiel arrived at Borrodale than the Prince 
and he retired together, when, according to the same authority, 
a discussion to the following effect took place : The Prince 
began the conversation by bitterly complaining of the treatment 
he had received from the French Ministers who had so long put 
him off with vain hopes and deceived him with false promises of 
active support ; their coldness in the cause, he said, but ill agreed 
with the opinions he had of his own rights, and with that im- 
patience to assert them with which the promises of his father's 
brave and faithful subjects had inflamed his mind. Lochiel ac- 
knowledged the engagements of the chiefs, but observed that they 
were nowise binding, as he had come over to the Highlands 
without the stipulated aid ; and, therefore, as there was not the 
least prospect of success, he advised his Royal Highness to return 
to France and to reserve himself and his faithful friends for a 
more favourable opportunity. Charles refused to follow Lochiel's 



348 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

advice, affirming that a more favourable opportunity than the 
present would never come ; that almost all the British troops 
were abroad, and kept at bay by Marshal Saxe, with a superior 
army ; that in Scotland there were only a few newly raised 
regiments, that had never seen any service, and could not stand 
before the Highlanders ; that the very first advantage gained 
over the troops would encourage his father's friends at home to 
declare themselves in his favour ; that his friends abroad would 
not fail to give their assistance ; and that he only wanted the 
Highlanders, in the meantime, to begin the war. 

Lochiel still resisted, entreating him to be more temperate, 
and consent to remain in the meantime concealed where he 
was, till he and his other friends should meet together, and 
arrange as to what was best to be done. Charles, whose whole 
mind was wound up to the utmost pitch of impatience, paid no 
regard to this proposal, but answered that he " was determined 
to put all to the hazard. In a few days with the few friends that 
I have, I will erect the Royal standard, and proclaim to the 
people of Britain that Charles Stuart is come over to claim the 
crown of his ancestors, to win it, or to perish in the attempt ; 
Lochiel, who, my father has often told me, was our firmest friend, 
may stay at home, and learn from the newspapers the fate of his 
Prince." " No," said Lochiel, " I'll share the fate of my Prince, 
and so shall every man over whom nature or fortune hath given 
me any power." Such was the immediate effect of this singular 
conversation, on the result of which depended peace or war ; for 
it is admitted on all hands, that if Lochiel had persisted in his 
refusal to take up arms, the other chiefs would not have joined 
the standard of the Prince without him, and the incipient spark 
of the proposed rising must have there and then expired. 

Lochiel now returned home, and dispatched messengers to 
all his vassals able to bear arms, commanding them to get ready 
at once to join him, and to march with him to Glenfinnan, where 
it had been resolved to raise the standard of the Prince. In the 
meantime, on the i6th of August, two companies of the ist 
Regiment of Foot, under Captain Scott, which had been sent from 
Fort- Augustus to reinforce Fort- William, were cleverly surrounded 
and taken prisoners, by a small body of Keppoch and Gengarry 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 349 

Macdonalds, at the end of Loch-Oich. Lochiel, to whom word 
had been sent to come to the assistance of the Macdonalds, 
arrived just as Captain Scott and his men surrendered, when 
Donald, with a body of Camerons, took charge of the prisoners, 
and marched them to his residence at Achnacarry. 

On the i Qth, at the head of between 700 and 800 of his 
followers, Lochiel marched to Glenfinnan, where the Prince was 
anxiously waiting for the clans that he expected would have 
met him there on his arrival at this place, which had been ap- 
pointed for raising his standard. " At length," says Chambers, 
" about an hour after noon, the sound of a pibroch was heard 
over the top of an opposite hill, and immediately after the ad- 
venturer was cheered by the sight of a large body of Highlanders 
in full march down the slope. It was the Camerons to the num- 
ber of 700 or 800, 

' All plaided and plumed in their tartan array,' 

coming forward in two columns of three men abreast, to the spirit- 
stirring notes of the bagpipe, and enclosing the party of soldiers 
whom they had just taken prisoners. Elevated by the fine ap- 
pearance of this clan, and by the auspicious result of the little 
action just described, Charles set about the business of declaring 
open war against the Elector of Hanover." The standard having 
been unfurled on the arrival of Lochiel, by the Marquis of Tulli- 
bardine, he carried it back to the quarters of the Prince, sur- 
rounded by a guard of fifty stalwart Camerons. 

Some five hundred firelocks and a quantity of French broad- 
swords having been landed from the " Doutelle " at Castle Tirrim, 
250 of the Camerons were sent for them, and, with 300 of 
Clanranald's men, they met the clans, who had marched from 
Glenfinnan on the 2ist, at the head of Loch Eil, on their 
way South. Here the Prince issued the famous proclamation 
offering ^30,000 for the person of King William, " Given at our 
camp at Kinlochiel, August the 22nd," and on the following 
night, Friday, the 23rd, he slept at Fassifern House, on Lochiel- 
side, the residence of John, LochiePs eldest brother, from whence 
200 Camerons were dispatched in advance with the Prince's 
baggage to Moy, in Lochaber. 

The Highlanders continued- their march southwards. At 



350 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

Corrieyarrack they were informed by a soldier named Cameron 
of Cope's march to Inverness. This man deserted from the 
army of King William for the express purpose of conveying this 
news to his friends, with whose movements he appears to have 
made himself fully acquainted. The intelligence was received 
with exultation, and the Highland army at once descended 
the southern steep of Corrieyarrack, on their way to the Scottish 
Capital, leaving Sir John Cope unmolested on his march to 
the Highland capital. While bivouacked at Dalwhinnie, Dr 
Archibald Cameron, who appears to have held the rank of Captain 
in the Highland army, Macdonald of Lochgarry, and O'Sullivan 
were ordered on an expedition against a small Government fort 
at Ruthven, with instructions to take the barracks. In this 
they failed, losing one man killed and two mortally wounded, 
but on their return they brought in Ewen Macpherson of Cluny, 
who had just the day before accepted a command under the 
Government, and received orders from Sir John Cope to em- 
body his clan, numbering about 300 able-bodied, righting men. 
Cluny, it may be assumed, was not altogether sorry for his 
capture, for he is found returning from Perth a few days after to 
raise his clan for the Prince, who treated him with every con- 
sideration during the short time he kept him prisoner. 

It is not intended to give a continuous and connected ac- 
count here of the proceedings and movements of the Highland 
army. These are already so well-known as to render it quite 
unnecessary, even did our plan admit of it. We shall only 
deal with the points in the narrative where the Camerons, or 
their leader, come prominently on the scene. From Blair Castle, 
Lochiel, with Lord Nairne, and 400 men went on in advance, 
entered and took possession of Dunkeld on the morning of the 3rd 
of September. The same evening the City of Perth was taken 
by the Camerons, and next morning, Prince Charles having 
arrived, attired in a superb Highland dress of Royal Stuart tar- 
tan, trimmed with gold, they immediately proceeded to the Cross 
of the Fair City and proclaimed the Chevalier, amid the acclama- 
tions of the people. Lochiel was then appointed, accompanied by 
Macdonald of Keppoch, Stewart of Ardshiel, and Sullivan, to lead 
900 men, comprising a large number of Camerons, sent forward 
for the capture of Edinburgh, with instructions to blow up the 



HISTORY OF THE CAMERONS. 351 

gates of the City, if necessary, to attain their purpose. * 
They were soon in possession without the spilling of a 
single drop of blood. When the inhabitants awoke in the morn- 
ing, they found the government of the Capital transferred from 
the Provost and Magistrates in name of King George, to the 
Highlanders in name of King James, and everything in the City 
was going on, to all outward appearance, as if nothing extraor- 
dinary had occurred, the one guard having relieved the other as 
quietly, according to Home, as one guard relieves another in the 
routine of duty on ordinary occasions. 

At the battle of Preston, fought on the 2ist of September, 
Lochiel, at the head of his followers, occupied the left wing of the 
army, whose " line was somewhat oblique, and the Camerons, who 
were nearest the King's army, came up directly opposite to the 
cannon, firing at the guard as they advanced. The people em- 
ployed to work the cannon, who were not gunners or artillerymen, 
fled instantly. Colonel Whiteford fired five or six field pieces with 
his own hand, which killed one private man and wounded an 
officer in Lochiel's regiment." The Camerons carried everything 
before them ; the enemy fled, dragoons and artillery, and the 
foot " were cither killed or taken prisoners," except about two 
hundred, " who escaped by extraordinary swiftness or early 
flight." The cannon, tents, baggage, and military chest of the 
King's army fell into the hands of the Highlanders, whose total 
loss only amounted to four officers and thirty men killed, and 
about seventy wounded ; while five of the King's officers were 
killed and eighty taken prisoners, many of the latter being 
wounded. Their loss in men has been estimated at from four to 
five hundred, with some seven hundred prisoners. Chambers 
says that " the victory began, as .the battle had done, among the 
Camerons. That spirited clan, notwithstanding their exposure 
to the cannon, and although received with a discharge of mus- 
ketry by the artillery guard, ran on with undaunted speed, and 
were first up to the front of the enemy," who, with Colonel 
Gardener and his dragoons, immediately reeled, turned, and fol- 

* It has been stated that immediately before leading on the band, Lochiel met 
with an accident, in consequence of which he was unable to execute the commission 
entrusted to him in person, and that Cameron of Erracht took his place on the 
occasion. We have not been able to procure satisfactory evidence on this point. 



352 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

lowed their companions. Lochiel ordered his men to strike at 
the noses of the horses, as the best means of getting the better of 
their masters ; but they never found a single opportunity of prac- 
tising the ruse, the men having chosen to retreat while they were 
yet some yards distant. Hamilton's dragoons, at the other 
extremity of the army, no sooner saw their fellows flying before 
the Camerons than they also turned about and fled, without hav- 
ing fired a carbine. The whole action only lasted about four 
minutes, ending in " a total overthrow, and the almost entire 
destruction of the Royal army," and Lochiel, with his trusty 
Camerons, had the principal share in securing this remarkable 
result. Of the four officers killed in the action two were 
Camerons Lieutenant Allan Cameron of Lundavra, and Ensign 
James Cameron, both of Lochiel's regiment* 
( To be continued.) 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 

DEAR MR EDITOR, In your last instalment of the History 
of the Camerons (Celtic Magazine for May), you are more than 
unkind you are unjust to the Stewarts of Appin. Referring to 
Colin Campbell of Glenure, you say that he was murdered by the 
Stewarts of Appin, and this surely is a terrible charge to be 
brought against the loyal and gallant Sliochd Mhic Iain Stiubh- 
airt, a clan characterised by the contemporary seanachie of the 
Macleans, as all of them gentlemen of honour, and all of them 
true and trusty as the steel of the daggers in their belts. 

Colin Campbell of Glenure was indeed shot dead by a Stewart, 
but not by a Stewart of Appin. The assassin was Allan Breac 

* Just as the army was marching to the attack the Chevalier appeared at their 
head, very alert, and ready to lead them to the onset. Lochiel, however, who had a 
great respect and esteem for him, earnestly entreated him to forbear exposing his 
person, and advised him to take his stand upon a rising ground, under the guard of a 
party, from whence he might send his orders to any part of the army during the en- 
gagement as he should see occasion ; for if any misfortune should befal him they were 
all ruined to a man ; and that too much depended on his safety to hazard his person 
without more apparent necessity than there was ; which advice the Chevalier fol- 
lowed, and retired with a party to a high field to the south-west of Seatoun. Life of 
Dr Archibald Cameron. 



MURDER OF CAMPBELL OF GLENURE. 353 

Stewart, of the family of Invernahadden, in Rannoch. Glenure, as 
factor on the forfeited estates of Appin and Lochiel was, rightly 
or wrongly, accused of being a cruel oppressor of the people. At 
all events it is the case that at the time of his death he was pre- 
paring to carry out " evictions " on a large scale, and of the fact 
abundant evidence was found on his person after death. He was 
furthermore accused of having borne false witness against some 
of the gentlemen of the West for their share in the '45, and of 
thus encompassing the death of far better men than himself. Be- 
cause of all this Allan Breac shot him dead, and managing to 
escape to France, another man, entirely innocent of the crime, as 
is now known, was laid hold of and executed under every circum- 
stance of ignominy that his hereditary foes the Campbells 
could devise. If the manner of Glenure's death can only be 
characterised as a deed of foul murder, a cowardly assasination, it 
is equally true that the execution of James Stewart of the Glen 
(Seumas-a-Ghlinne) was, as it has been characterised by a high 
authority, with all the evidence of the case before him, neither 
more nor less than " a judicial murder." 

As a descendant of the gallant Invernakyles of Appin, and 
brave MacRobbs of Letter-Shuna, I have to request that you 
will withdraw your cruel and utterly unfounded indictment of 
murder against " the Stewarts of Appin," a race, let me assure 
you, far too proud and brave to be guilty of anything so cowardly 
and mean as the assassination of Colin Campbell of Glenure, even 
if he had been ten times over the heartless tyrant and oppressor 
Allan Breac believed him to